Georgian delegates were not amongst those in support of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s landmark resolution declaring Russia as the state sponsor of terrorism.
Adopted with 99 votes to 0, the resolution authored by a Lithuanian MP Emanuelis ZIngeris, the Resolution 2463 titled Further Escalation in the Russian Federation's Aggression against Ukraine declares the “current Russian regime as terrorist one.”
“On 10 October 2022, a barbaric set of missile attacks targeted several Ukrainian cities, hitting public squares, playgrounds and residential buildings. With these indiscriminate attacks, Russia aims to advance its terrorist policy to suppress the will of Ukrainians to resist and defend their country and provoke maximum harm to civilians,” the resolution states.
Despite the fact that the resolution mentions Russia’s continued occupation of Georgian territories, votes of Georgian Dream MPs were not amongst the resolution’s supporters.
Georgian Dream MP Givi Mikanadze says “deceitful last-minute inclusion of an amendment” that calls Mikheil Saakashvili a political prisoner prevented Georgian Dream from supporting the resolution.
“The Assembly also calls for a review of cases of other political prisoners opposed to President Putin, in the Russian Federation and in other countries, and for their release (including Mikheil Saakashvili, Ukrainian citizen and former President of Georgia),” the Resolution says.
However, GD members did not support the inclusion of declaring Russia as a terrorist regime into the resolution either. The declaration was introduced as an amendment (Amendment No 7) with Georgian Dream votes also not seen amongst its supporters.
Finally, Georgian Dream members did not take floor and did not express their views on the resolution at all.
Government critics say Georgian Dream representatives were free to take the floor, express their support for the resolution’s spirit but clarify that they could not vote because of an amendment on Saakashvili, which they said was lobbied by UNM member Khatia Dekanoidze.
Georgian Dream members did not comment on why their voices were not heard during the debate or indeed why they did not support Amendment 7 which labelled Russia as a terrorist regime.
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