November 21, 2025 - The South Caucasus News - SouthCaucasusNews.com

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, echoed the Georgian government in saying that the West is “twisting the arms” of Georgians for trying to defend their sovereignty. She told a briefing on 20 November that recent events in Georgia show that the more concessions the country makes to the West, the greater its demands become.

At the same briefing, Zakharova added that Western powers are trying to draw the South Caucasus into dangerous geopolitical games.

She also said that the doors remain open for Georgia to participate in the “3+3” format, with the next meeting of the platform expected to take place in Baku or Yerevan.

Russian propagandists cheer Georgia’s decision to bar emigrants from voting abroad

According to the Foreign Ministry, more than 1.5 million Georgian citizens reside abroad.

Maria Zakharova’s statements

“The EU’s actions are driven by a plan to confront Russia. Threats and pressure have become commonplace in Brussels’ policy in the region. The situation has escalated to sanctions and the blackmail of entire populations.

Georgia is a striking example. Georgians are literally being ‘twisted arm’ and punished for trying to defend their own sovereignty. This is not about forming a coalition with anyone or supporting any particular actor, but simply because the people within their own country decided to live according to their own laws. Apparently, this is meant as a warning to others. It is clear that EU officials only care about citizens’ choices when the results help turn the country into a pawn in the ‘big game.’ At the same time, political forces that advance Western interests are allowed everything, especially with the large sums of money they receive.

Attention should be drawn to a publication by Georgian media on 13 November at 3:00 p.m., which shared a copy of a letter from a ‘high-ranking EU official.’ The letter contained an anti-government statement that, allegedly, freedom-loving citizens supporting Georgia’s interests were supposed to read out at an upcoming protest. Just ten minutes later, outside the parliament building, one opposition figure read aloud, word for word in Georgian, the text received from Brussels. This raises questions about ‘puppet masters’ and why the laws of third countries on ‘foreign agents’ anger EU officials. They expose the mechanisms of EU and NATO actions in other countries, where they have no rights to intervene.

Overall, the situation in Georgia allows one to draw an important conclusion: the more concessions the country makes to the West, the greater its demands become.”