Georgia fails to support PACE resolution to recognize Russia as dictatorship

Georgia’s ruling party chose not to vote in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the resolution, which recognizes Russia as a dictatorship and calls not to recognize Vladimir Putin as legitimate president after his current term expires.

That’s according to the Echo of Caucasus outlet, Ukrinform reports.

Only the representative of the Citizens opposition force, Ketevan Turazashvili, voted for the resolution, while representatives from the ruling Georgian Dream party did not partake in the voting.

According to the head of the Georgian Dream delegation in PACE, Irakli Chikovani, part of the representatives of the ruling party are in Poland as election observers ahead of the October 15 poll, "and I had other issues that keep me here."

"I am not going to coordinate the priorities of our activities with you, first of all. Secondly, I explained to the public and said that earlier, throughout the years, we attended the sessions in different compositions (of the PACE, - ed.), so there’s no pretext here. If we discuss something with the Russian Federation or talk about something, it is done with only one task – to restore our territorial integrity and the situation of our fellow citizens in the occupied territories," Chikovani said.

When asked by journalists whether he himself agrees that Russia has become a dictatorship, Chikovani said that the country "has problems related to the full-fledged operation of democracy."

In the spring of 2023, the representatives from the Georgian delegation to the PACE chose not to vote for the resolution regarding the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia.