Opposition Leader Warns of ‘Anti-Americanism’

If the U.S. authorities “continue to blindly support certain people” in the Georgian administration, “anti-Americanism among Georgians will increase,” Davit Usupashvili, the leader of the opposition Republican Party, said on October 2.

“This is precisely what we told U.S. officials,” he told the Tbilisi-based Imedi radio station.

Usupashvili, as well as Salome Zourabichvili and Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, leaders of the opposition Georgia’s Way and Freedom parties, respectively, visited Washington last week. On September 28 the three leaders spoke about recent developments in Georgia at a Washington-based think-tank, the Nixon Center.

Usupashvili said that there “are pragmatic people” in the U.S. administration and they “fully understand that Georgia’s success story may turn into an unsuccessful one and they are concerned about it.”

He said that recent developments in Georgia, including the arrest of ex-Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, were discussed during a meeting with Mathew Bryza, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

“I can not go into the details of this meeting, because it was confidential; I, however, can say what Mr. Bryza told us about the recent developments in Georgia,” Usupashvili said. “He said they were a mistake.”

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