Caucasus (bbabo.net), - An expert from the Presidential Administration of the Republic of South Ossetia, Roland Kelekhsaev, spoke about possible risks for South Ossetia due to protests in Georgia due to the adoption of a law on foreign agents.
“The fact that the ruling Georgian Dream party is again trying to push the law on foreign agents through parliament indirectly confirms that their positions in Georgia have weakened a little. The need to adopt this law suggests that Georgian Dream is thereby trying to take control of those NGOs that are funded from abroad, in particular from Western countries. The ruling party is afraid that unrest may break out during the elections in October this year and that the instigators will be representatives of these very NGOs. Moreover, pro-Western forces are presenting the adoption of this bill as an action by the country’s leadership against European integration,” Kelekhsaev said.
He does not believe that these protests will lead to any serious consequences in the form of a change of power in Georgia. But at the same time, Kelekhsaev predicts, certain forces will use these protest sentiments as a reason to rock the situation within the country - before the elections, voters are being cheated, and this is not in favor of the ruling party.
As for the risks for South Ossetia, Georgia in any case poses a threat to the republic until it accepts obligations to sign an agreement on the non-use of force with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Kelekhsaev said.
“The Russian Federation is the guarantor of the security of our republic, so these protests will not have any serious consequences, even if the situation gets out of control. Although it can be assumed that more excesses will occur on the border, and slogans will also be heard calling for reprisals against Ossetians and the “return” of territories by force,” he noted.
The head of the information and analytical department of the presidential administration of South Ossetia, Yuri Vazagov, believes that unrest in Georgia could lead to consequences similar to those that happened after the events in Ukraine in 2013-2014.
“If you analyze the situation that is developing now in Georgia, it can be compared with the Ukrainian story, with how events unfolded in Ukraine around the issue of European integration in 2013. There, too, an artificial split was created in society at that time - between supporters of “reunification with Europe” and supporters of a pro-Russian orientation. Now something similar is happening in Georgia; an artificial split in society is also being imposed on the country in order to provoke some far-reaching consequences,” he said.
Vazagov noted that the disagreements observed between the ruling Georgian party “Georgian Dream” and the country’s President Salome Zurabishvili are unlikely to lead to the latter’s impeachment.
“Zurabishvili’s statement that she will veto a bill passed by the country’s parliament is unlikely to stop the Georgian Dream. At the same time, one should also not expect a scenario in which Zurabishvili will be successfully impeached,” he explained.
Vazagov added that the adoption of the law on foreign agents will negatively affect Georgia’s chances of joining the EU. At the same time, according to him, the collective West will do everything possible to prevent the Georgian Dream from adopting this bill.
bbabo.Net