Page 6 - GEORptOct19

Meanwhile, Mamuka Khazaradze, a co-founder of Georgia’s TBC Bank, has confirmed that despite the harassment he claims to be subject to from authorities—moves of which have lately included the seizing of his bank accounts in relation to a prosecution for alleged money laundering crimes that date back to 2008—he is going ahead with the founding of a new political vehicle.
On the political side,​ Mikheil Saakashvili’s UNM, its more moderate ally European Georgia and entrepreneur Mamuka Khazaradze’s newly founded Lelo Public Movement attended protest rallies in proximity to the residence of President Salome Zurabishvili and in front of the parliament building on September 20—the demonstrations came three months after similar protests against the government were aggressively dispersed by riot police, with incidences of protesters losing eyes amid hails of rubber bullets.
Protesters in front of parliament displayed ‘red cards’ aimed at Georgian Dream. As the organisers of the rally stated, the cards underlined the desire for oligarch and ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili’s party to leave the field.
2.0​ ​Politics
2.1​ ​Georgian, Russian foreign ministries meet for first
time since 2008 war
The foreign ministers of Georgia and Russia on September 26 met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It was the highest-level meeting between the two sides since their short war in 2008 that resulted in the occupation of 20% of Georgia’s territory.
The meeting between the two, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and Georgia’s Davit Zalkaliani, was certainly notable but the way it was publicly disclosed by the Russians and Georgians hardly support hopes that more bilateral negotiations will take place any time soon or that there can be quick progress in talks under the Geneva International Discussions format.
Switzerland​ ​confirmed​ i​ t mediated the meeting.
Lavrov quickly​ ​confirmed rumours​ ​that his Georgian counterpart had requested the meeting. This exposed Georgian authorities to criticism from opposition parties, and not only from the extreme Russophobes mentioned by Lavrov, ahead of the general election scheduled for next year.
Furthermore, Lavrov said in an authoritative tone that Russia would address Georgia’s request to lift its ban on direct flights to the country only if Tbilisi “manages to responsibly advance its position in favour of normal relations with Russia and will not look at Russophobes”.
“On September 26, I met with Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani, who himself demanded the meeting. Later I read his comments, which, I think, took
6​ GEORGIA Country Report​ October 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com