“If we take into account Saakashvili’s past and his worldview, then it turns out that he can be the best lobbyist of neoconservatives’ ideas in the Ukrainian government,” so responded one of the leaders of the Social Democratic party in Georgia, also member of Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo), political scientist Beka Natsvlishvili, in response to the question of Aravot.am at the press conference held under project “Topical Dialogues on the New Integration Agenda of Armenia” by the “Region” Research Center about how he will interpret the former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s statement that he is going to coordinate the issues of supplying weapons to Ukraine from Western countries. The press conference was held via Skype, during which the Armenian journalists had a chance to ask their questions to Georgian specialists under the topic entitled “Georgia after signing the EU Association Agreement”.
Later on, the expert reminded about the results of Saakashvili reforms. “During his latest period of tenure, we witnessed a high degree of economic inequality and collapse of agriculture. Because of politicized law enforcement activities, many innocent people were killed. Although in some areas, such as the services sector, reduction of corruption in medium and low levels, Saakashvili reforms, generally did not produce the desired results, and as a result, we had a quite authoritarian regime, where the economic and political power was concentrated in the hands of people’s small circle.”
According to the Georgian expert, this is known not only in Ukraine, but also in all countries. Hence, he says, “It is less likely that Saakashvili is there for implementing political and economic reforms. Saakashvili is supported even by the neo-conservative circles who have never concealed their support for the color revolutions and the intentions to solve the conflicts militarily. And one of the ideas of neo-conservative forces is arming Ukraine by the West.” The expert mentioned that arming Ukraine can lead to a greater number of casualties, which could be fatal for both the region and the entire world. And it will benefit only for some neo-conservative groups, especially in America. Going back to the EU positive and negative aspects, the expert mentioned that the positive in them prevails.
Referring to the relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, the Georgian expert mentioned, “Georgia’s current leadership wants to improve relations with official Moscow by restoring the dialogue regime. The opposition way is the confrontation, which is not beneficial for both sides.” To the question of whether Georgia and Armenia could become a connecting link between the Eurasian Union and the European Union, Mr. Natsvlishvili replied, “Of course, it is possible. But we must not forget the Russian factor as the pressures over Armenia to join the Eurasian Union were due to the fact Russia does not lose Armenia as an economic partner and, most importantly, interfering with Caucasus as a formation of one single unit. The other danger for Russia was the loss of the Russian military base deployed in Armenia.” Talking about reopening of the Abkhaz railway, the Georgian expert said that it is more associated with the posture of official Moscow rather than with the Armenian-Georgian relations.
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
