In an interview with Euronews, Salomé Zourabichvili asked EU countries to avoid 'business as usual' with the Georgian government, as 'Russia is experimenting a new form of invasion' in the country.
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00:00The pro-European president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, won't leave office the day her
00:08term ends in late December.
00:10She considers the newly elected president, the pro-Russian former football player Mikhail
00:14Kavelashvili, not to be legitimate.
00:17That was one of her main messages during her intervention at the European Parliament.
00:22My legitimacy, in a way, comes from my election, and it comes from the illegitimacy of the
00:29recent elections, and it comes from the trust and confidence of the population.
00:35It doesn't depend on a building, or on a security apparatus, or on anything material that they
00:42will or will not provide.
00:46Zurabishvili claims that the elections were manipulated through several systems, such
00:49as ballot stuffing, intimidation, or buying voters.
00:52I mean, there are many, many ways in these countries in which you can buy the fidelity,
00:59the loyalty of people, which is not really fraud, but it's administrative resource.
01:08But the president thinks Georgia is not at risk of a traditional Russian invasion, due
01:12to the lack of resources from Moscow and their military presence in some Georgian territory.
01:18But she does fear something else.
01:20Russia is experimenting a new form of invasion, a hybrid invasion, through elections, through
01:27proxies, through authoritative government or persons.
01:32Zurabishvili, who has been president of Georgia since 2018, hopes the EU will act to avoid
01:38Russia deciding the foreign policy of the bloc.