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The Kremlin's bad boy: We are ready for a rapprochement with Georgia, the rulers in Tbilisi only have to ask

This opinion was expressed by the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with RT, quoted on Friday by TASS

Nov 2, 2024 10:41 39

The Kremlin's bad boy: We are ready for a rapprochement with Georgia, the rulers in Tbilisi only have to ask  - 1

Russia and Georgia will restore diplomatic relations if Tbilisi wants, but for now the ruling Georgian party does not want that.

This opinion was expressed by the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with RT, quoted on Friday by TASS.

"For us, these Georgian authorities and the Georgian ruling party are not close in any way, they don't even want to restore diplomatic relations, if they want to restore someday we will restore it, although without diplomatic relations we can cooperate" , Medvedev said.

The American data and polling company "Edison Research" announced that differences between exit polls in Georgia's parliamentary elections and official results showed "manipulation" of voting.

It is the second polling agency to report election violations.

The ruling party and the electoral commission have not commented on the pollsters' statements, but have repeatedly assured that the elections were free and fair.

Seen as key for Georgia, the vote offered a choice between further European integration under the pro-Western opposition, or closer ties to Moscow under a ruling party that critics say is becoming increasingly authoritarian.

Watchdog groups, including the 57-nation Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said irregularities such as ballot-stuffing, voter intimidation and bribery could have affected the election, but did not directly indicate that the vote was rigged.

In a comment with President Zurabishvili's statement, Zakharova touched on her French citizenship and the influence of the USA

According to data from the Election Commission of Georgia, the ruling party "Georgian Dream", believed to be controlled by billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, won with 54% of the vote - a result that opposition parties and the president dismissed as a fraud.

Opposition parties organized a protest on Monday against the election result.

"The Review of "Edison" found that the deviation from the statistically expected results is massive, but it is most clearly expressed in specific polling places in rural areas," the agency added.

That is where significant vote manipulation is most likely to have taken place.

"Georgian Dream" underperformed in larger cities but won margins of up to 90% in some rural areas.

The "Edison" exit poll commissioned by the pro-opposition TV channel "Formula" showed that the four main opposition parties in Georgia are on track to win a majority in the election.

On Thursday "HarrisX" - another US polling agency, which conducted a separate exit poll for the pro-opposition TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, said the official results were "statistically impossible".