washington — Last December, Georgia’s parliament chose Mikheil Kavelashvili, a close ally of ruling Georgian Dream party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, as the country’s new president. He replaced Salome Zourabichvili, who had won the presidency in 2018 in a popular vote. Zourabichvili was the country’s fifth president.

Opposition parties and Zourabichvili contend that the country’s October 2024 parliamentary elections, which Georgian Dream officially won with 54.09% of the vote, were rigged, and that therefore neither Georgian Dream’s victory nor Kavelashvili’s replacement of Zourabichvili as president was legitimate. The opposition parties have refused to enter parliament and work with Georgian Dream members and are demanding new elections.

Zourabichvili was in Washington to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump at the invitation of Representative Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina. While in the U.S. capital, she spoke with Voice of America.

The following transcript of that interview has been edited for brevity and clarity:

VOA: Thank you for being here at VOA. We know that you attended the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States but also had a chance to meet with members of President Trump’s Cabinet. What was your main message during those meetings?

Salome Zourabichvili, former president of Georgia: Well, those … were more social encounters before the inauguration and before the confirmation of those Cabinet members. I met them during different receptions and at [an inaugural] ball. So it was not a place for [a] formal meeting [or] for relaying formal messages.

It’s very important that contact was established. My short message was that Georgia [is] at a very crucial turning point today, in a region that is very important for the United States and for the United States’ interests, and so there should be immediate attention for what is happening in Georgia, in the Caucasus, in the Black Sea, from the new administration.

VOA: You often say that Georgia needs the U.S., but the U.S. also needs Georgia. Why should Georgia be important for the United States, and what role could Georgia play in the South Caucasus [and] the wider region?

Zourabichvili: First of all, because the Russians know that more than anybody else: They always said historically that whoever controls Tbilisi … controls the Caucasus. And that is even more important today, at a time when this region is becoming very important for control of the Black Sea. …

The ports of the Black Sea are very important. And it’s not a coincidence that Russia started the war against Ukraine also for control of that part of the Black Sea coast, starting with Crimea in 2014. And it’s no coincidence that the hybrid war Russia … has started with the elections in Georgia, also with the elections in Romania, and to rig the elections, in a very different manner, in Moldova – so those three countries, if you look at the map, are countries of the Black Sea. So the strategy of Russia is very clear.

Hence the strategy of the United States should be [a] continuation of what it has been over the years, which was to consolidate Georgia … [as] a stronghold of democracy. [The] Georgian army would not exist were it not for American support. So I think that shows that this was not just for sympathy of, but because there was a serious, real American interest in supporting Georgia. And I’m confident that these interests are still there and even more today than maybe in the past.

VOA: You were invited to attend the inauguration by Congressman Joe Wilson, one of the authors in the U.S House of Representatives of the MEGOBARI Act [aimed at bolstering democracy and countering Russian influence in Georgia], and the Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act [prohibiting the U.S. from recognizing the Ivanishvili regime and recognizing Zourabichvili as Georgia’s legitimate president]. Could you explain why you think it is so important for the U.S. government not to recognize the current Georgian government?

Zourabichvili: I think it is not possible for a country like the United States to recognize a government that is the result of rigged elections and anti-constitutional acts … a regime in which no independent institution is left; all the institutions are just nominated by one party and one-man rule.

That is really destroying everything that the United States has been doing in this country. Building institutions — not only the army; it’s all the institutions — support for reform of the justice system, creation of the anti-corruption system and all of that, which is really the work of more than 30 years since the independence of Georgia. What is happening today is really destroying all of that.

VOA: You, the opposition and part of Georgian people are asking for new elections. Is that the main demand at this moment?

Zourabichvili: I’m still hoping that the de facto leaders [of Georgia] would recognize that stability of the country is the most important thing and would come to terms with helping the country by [holding] new elections, through some compromise with the opposition. But as time goes by, there’s probably less and less hope that they would come to such a sensible solution.

And what will then happen most probably is that the regime will dissolve, because it cannot resist either the sanctions, the economic and financial situation that we are getting into, the fact that it’s rejected by the vast majority of the country and is isolated from all the partners, Americans and Europeans, that have been really supporting Georgia over the years.

VOA: Different experts we talk with say that Georgia is not going to be a top priority of the Trump administration. How do you plan to bring Georgia to its attention?

Zourabichvili: Well, we probably are never going to be the top priority, and I hope it won’t be, because that means a crisis of a different level, which we don’t want. Again, we do not want instability. But I think that what is happening in Georgia is quite important as an example. I don’t think America [can] accept a country [that] has been supported and, really, constructed as a state by the United States, [making] friends with terrorist movements, with Iran, with China, and [handing over] strategic interests on the Black Sea, the port of Anaklia, or new communications lines, to China, which is what is happening.
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