President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili declares, that Bidzina Ivanishvili is an oligarch.
As Zourabichvili said in an interview with Le Monde, Ivanishvili is among those "who cannot imagine that Russia will be defeated".
"He is an oligarch who has accumulated wealth in Russia. So the mentality is influenced by what he has experienced in the past. Today the world is divided into two. He is among those who cannot imagine that Russia will be defeated, so he is trying to adjust in advance to the victory of Russia, which may be even more aggressive. Under his influence, young people in power, educated in Europe, show a weak and flattering position towards Russia. This is a bad perception of the new geopolitical situation.
The second part, especially young people, think that Russia will never be what it was before. It has already been defeated in many ways - militarily and in terms of prestige: it has pushed Finland and Sweden into NATO and will soon accelerate the EU integration of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. All this will happen "thanks" to Russia, because our agenda was not designed for such a fast pace. Russia lost," Zourabichvili said in the interview.
In addition, when asked how she understands the European Commission's recommendation on "de-oligarchization", Salome Zourabichvili says that there is no oligarch in Georgian politics today other than Ivanishvili, and "the answer to de-oligarchization lies in the next elections".
"I don't know what his real interference is in the economic affairs of the country. All this is absolutely not transparent. Obviously, he has a dominant influence on the existing rulers. There is no oligarch in Georgian politics today other than Ivanishvili.
The answer to deoloigarchization, I think, lies in the next elections. We have been in a one-party system of government for thirty years. De-oligarchization means that we need as free elections as possible, with a real coalition, with a pro-European front," Zourabichvili said.
