Georgian opposition leaders have expressed today their solidarity with Kyiv and urged the international community to take action against Russia after Moscow launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine early in the morning.
“We all understand that this is a war between evil and freedom, which concerns our continent and the whole world,” said Nika Melia, chair of the United National Movement, the largest opposition party.
“The heroic people of Ukraine are repelling a treacherous and brutal assault! Our hearts and thoughts are with them today!”
The UNM also announced a rally in solidarity to Kyiv today in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Tbilisi at 15:00.
Meanwhile, Mamuka Khazaradze, chair of the Lelo party, stressed in a tweet that “Russia has pursued premeditated war [in Ukraine], as against Georgia in 2008.”
Calling on the international community to impose “severe sanctions” on Russia, Khazaradze underlined that it is “time to act decisively in order to protect not only Ukraine but ideas of sovereignty and self-determination!”
Ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party also condemned “Russia’s open aggression and full-scale war against a sovereign state.”
“Today, the task of the entire international community should be to stop the Russian aggression by using all effective mechanisms,” the party stated, adding that developments in Ukraine will “determine what the world will be like tomorrow, what the international order will be like in the future.”
In a brief statement on Twitter, Elene Khoshtaria of Droa party said “Slava Ukraini [Glory to Ukraine]! Georgia is with you, always.” She then announced another rally in support of Ukraine in downtown Tbilisi at 19:00 today.
Opposition parties in the legislature, UNM and Lelo have also called for holding an extraordinary parliamentary session, a move Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili doubted was necessary.
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