Georgian PM: “No one will scare us with any mechanism — neither Moscow’s nor Brussels’”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday said the Government is not concerned about the activation of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Moscow Mechanism or possible proceedings in The Hague, arguing that the report prepared under the mechanism is entirely based on false information.

Speaking to journalists, the Prime Minister said the document cannot be considered a legal conclusion.

“As for the Moscow Mechanism, The Hague and so on, this cannot be interesting for us, because what is reflected in the Moscow Mechanism document, the report, is entirely based on lies,” Kobakhidze said.

He said a 100-page document prepared by a single expert in 14 days cannot claim to be a legal assessment.

“We are interested in one thing: when someone refers to the author of this report and talks about media freedom, while one of the initiators of this mechanism is the United Kingdom, which attempted directly and rudely to silence the media in Georgia. That is what interests the public; everything else is unimportant,” he said.

Kobakhidze also stated that the Georgian authorities will not be intimidated by any international mechanisms.

“No one will scare us with any mechanism — neither Moscow’s, nor Brussels’, nor Prague’s, nor Rostov’s. It is not interesting for us. The mechanism in The Hague is not interesting to us either,” the Prime Minister said.

He added that the issue is so absurd, in his view, that it hardly deserves comment.