(29 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tbilisi – 29 October 2024
1. Visiting Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban receiving an official welcoming ceremony, greeted by Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze
STORYLINE:
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Georgia Tuesday and was greeted with a welcome ceremony by Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in Tbilisi.
Orban is Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s closest partner within the EU and Europe’s longest-serving leader.
He holds the rotating presidency of the EU, which often is the bloc’s global bullhorn and which Orban has used in ways that highlight internal divisions.
The Hungarian leader has played the spoiler in showing unity in confronting Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Now, another point of contention has emerged in the disputed election outcome in Georgia, where the opposition alleges vote-rigging by the populist ruling party.
Orban’s office said he was taking a surprise trip Monday to the Georgian capital to meet with his allies there.
EU institutions, meanwhile, had spent much of the weekend carefully weighing a diplomatic statement that would show their displeasure with the claimed win by the Georgian Dream party, which they feel is increasingly leaning toward Moscow and away from Brussels even as many in the ex-Soviet nation favor embarking on a path toward joining the EU.
But Orban, increasingly seen as Putin’s voice in the bloc, preempted EU statements even before all votes were counted and congratulated “the Georgian Dream party on their overwhelming victory,” adding that Georgians “know what is best for their country, and made their voice heard.”
The EU statement that came a full day later called on Georgian authorities "to fulfil their duty to swiftly, transparently and independently investigate” alleged vote rigging.
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