Georgian Opposition Party to Leave for Moscow, Again

Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (APG), Georgian parliamentary opposition party which is often affiliated with Russia, claims they are going to arrive in Moscow on October 1.

The statement was made by the party leaders at the Saturday’s rally, held by them in central Tbilisi.

The party’s main demand is changes in Georgia’s Constitution. However, they also call on the government to make active steps and create trilateral format of negotiations between Georgia, NATO and Russia.

The APG also asks for protection of rights of Georgian citizens, affected by banks.

The APG members specified that they will send to Moscow three of their leaders: Emzar Kvitsiani, Ada Marshania and Giorgi Lomaia.

The last two MPs of the party visited Moscow in July 2017, which was the first diplomatic delegation from Georgia to Russia since the August 2008 war.

The pro-Russian APG party, which gained six mandates in Georgia’s 150-seat parliament during the October 2016 elections, claimed from the very beginning that dialogue with Russia was necessary to solve Georgia’s territorial problems.

On July 12, APG MPs, Giorgi Lomia, Ada Marshania and Nato Chkheidze arrived in Moscow and met Leonid Kalashnikov, Kazbek Taisayev from the Communist Party and Artyom Kavinov from Putin’s Yedinaya Rossiya, which is the ruling party in Russia.

The main topics of the meeting were restoration of diplomatic ties and the initiative of abolition of Georgia’s Law on Occupation, according to which entry to the occupied territories by foreign citizens and stateless persons from any other direction shall be prohibited and be punishable under the Criminal Code of Georgia.

Georgian media reports that the sides agreed to establish an informal working group which will gather every month to discuss the normalization process between Russia and Georgia.

Georgian and Russian lawmakers request this group be officially recognized by Russia’s Duma and the Parliament of Georgia.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: Netgazeti

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