Georgia: Political Situation

Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister of State for Europe, North America and the Overseas Territories raised concerns about Georgia’s political trajectory with the then Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on 9 October. The Minister made a statement on 27 October to support election observation findings and calling for irregularities to be investigated. He made a further statement yesterday calling on the Georgian authorities to de-escalate the situation and reverse their path away from European values.

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

I thank the Minister for her reply. The situation in Georgia is extremely worrying, as I am sure she agrees. The Georgian people are firmly orientated towards Europe, but President Putin is manipulating the whole situation to draw Georgia into the orbit of Russia. There are sinister signs of KGB tactics at work, with opposition members having secret files on them. The pivotal figure is Bidzina Ivanishvili, who owns much of the business and media in Georgia and controls the Georgian Dream party behind the scenes. Will His Majesty’s Government follow the example of the Baltic states in sanctioning Bidzina Ivanishvili and his cronies?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

The noble and right reverend Lord knows what I will say about sanctions specifically, which is that we do not pre-announce our sanctions or our intention to designate any subject of our sanctions. However, he is absolutely right to highlight the track record of Russia in interfering in democracies, not least in Georgia. I recommend that noble Lords who are interested in this look at the OSCE interim report on these elections, which highlights some serious concerns.

[Lord Blencathra (Con)]

My Lords, as the first ever elected chair of the new Council of Europe expert group on observing elections—that sounds grander than it actually is—I was the only Brit on the Council of Europe delegation to Georgia three weeks ago. I have done nine of these, and it was the first time that I ever experienced personal intimidation and my vehicle was sabotaged. I draw the Minister’s attention to the joint press release issued the next day by the Council of Europe, the OSCE and NATO. It is a very watered-down version of what happened because, inevitably, the OSCE and NATO wanted not to be too nasty to Georgia. I also draw her attention to the PACE report that was published last week, which exposes the massive intimidation by Georgian Dream, orchestrated at a very high state level. I suggest to her that that report is quite authoritative, and it casts doubt on the whole election result

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

The noble Lord is completely right, and I respect the fact that he was there so recently and took part in that process. I will read the PACE report; I have read excerpts from it, but I will read it in full, as he suggests. We are deeply concerned, as he alluded to, about the intimidation not just of observers but of voters, as well as the whole atmosphere around the elections and in the period leading up to them. I thank the noble Lord for the work that he has done and for bringing it to this House’s attention.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is the young people of Georgia in particular who need to be commended, because they are seeking to exercise their democratic and civil rights and they have been persecuted? I heard what the Minister said with regard to sanctions, but the United States has issued restrictions on those who have persecuted young people since the elections. Does the Minister agree that no Georgian official who has orchestrated attacks on young people in Georgia exercising their rights should have preferential visa access to the United Kingdom or be able to exploit certain conditions where the United States has said they are not justified?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

We take close notice of what our allies are doing in relation to Georgia at the moment. I sometimes feel, when the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, asks these questions, that he has something specific in mind and is inviting me to guess what it might be. We will be using all the levers at our disposal to try to do right by the people of Georgia who, as far as anyone can tell, have not changed their desire to seek a democratic outcome. We have concerns that we think need to be investigated. It is up to the people of Georgia to choose who governs them and to choose whether they tilt to the West or to Russia. That is their choice, and it must be a choice that is made freely.

[Lord Cromwell (CB)]

My Lords, perhaps at one level there is a certain irony in the UK involving itself in the EU accession desires of other states. More seriously, I associate myself with all the comments that have been made, including by the Minister. It is essential that we keep pressing the Georgian Dream party, which fought long and hard to get candidate status to join the EU, on why that has now been put on the back burner, particularly given the protests that have arisen directly from it.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That is a question on many of our minds. However, I do not think we are trying to involve ourselves in any other country’s decisions relating to accession or otherwise. The principle that we seek to stick to is that this must be a choice made by the people of Georgia freely and democratically, and free of interference from other states.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, it is clear from the experiences of my noble friend Lord Blencathra and other observers that the recent parliamentary elections in Georgia were indeed seriously flawed. There were many credible reports of Russian interference—something that, sadly, seems to be happening with increasing frequency in various other countries as well; there were similar allegations in Moldova, Romania and other countries. Is the Minister working with international partners to counter this malign influence in the democratic systems of so many of our partner countries?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Yes, I can confirm that we are doing that, and our Minister of State, Mr Doughty, is having many meetings at the moment—bilaterally and multilaterally—to try and make that very point.

[Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP)]

My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, I had the honour of being part of the OSCE election monitoring mission last month and we witnessed the intimidation and election malpractices of the Georgian Dream party. But what we also witnessed was the tremendous courage, dedication and work of NGOs, and of many young people in particular, at the polling stations and throughout the length and breadth of Georgia. Can the Minister tell us what can be done with our international partners to strengthen support for and solidify the work of those NGOs?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

We are very clear that what we have seen the NGOs and civil society more generally experience in Georgia recently is unacceptable, and we will work in any way that we can. This is something that is quite deep-rooted—our concerns about this are not just new and relating to this election, as we have seen cyberattacks and risks to cybersecurity in Georgia that we have tried to work to strengthen and protect it against. The truth is that this is getting more and more difficult, and these elections have really brought things that have been going on for some time to a head.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that this exemplifies why we must thwart Putin in Ukraine, because his malign influence in places such as Georgia, Transnistria, Moldova and, indeed, the western Balkans is becoming worse because he is becoming emboldened and causing real difficulties. His malign influence is causing huge destruction of some of the constructs that we put in place after the Second World War.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I have spoken many times in this House about this Government’s unwavering support for Ukraine and the fact that we will be alongside it for as long as it needs us. The noble Lord is right to raise that, but it is also true that the impact of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is causing fear among other states and influencing some of the decisions they are taking. Our position will always be that it is for the people of any nation to decide which way they wish to look. You can see some of this playing out in Georgia, and it is something that we are very mindful of and are keeping a careful watch on.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, in agreeing with the noble Lord, Lord West, I also say to the Minister that we must reassure Georgia because Russian aggression was first impacted on Georgia with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. What assessment have the Government made to ensure that the territorial sovereignty of Georgia is fully protected?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right, and the territorial integrity of Georgia must be respected by all, including Russia, and we will be firm in that position.