Georgian President Calls On World to Support ‘Exemplary’ Ukraine

(Bloomberg) -- Georgia's President Salome Zourabichvili urged the global community to support Ukraine, which she said is showing “exemplary” resistance in an unjust war.

The independence and freedom that Ukraine is fighting for are the same values that Georgia defends, Zourabichvili said in a Bloomberg TV interview Friday. The president's comments come after daily protests and criticism in her country over the government's reluctance to join global economic sanctions on Russia.

Zourabichvili said she was joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via video link in an address to he rally outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, to show them respect for defending the country's honor. “These are our values that should be defended,” she said.

The president, a former French diplomat of Georgian heritage who took office in 2018, praised the “firm and united” sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union and the U.S. Zourabichvili's opinion is in conflict with views expressed by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who said his country won't join in sanctions against Russia because “it will damage our people.”

“I will only act on our national interests,” he said.

The Caucasus nation fought a 2008 war with Russia over two breakaway regions that Moscow later recognized as independent. Russian troops are based in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which remain internationally recognized as part of Georgia and the government in Tbilisi describes it as “occupied territory.”

Russia has had strained relations with a number of former Soviet satellite states. Moldova and Georgia have both requested to hold membership talks with the European Union, joining a bid earlier this week by Ukraine.

“The membership won't necessarily improve security, at least at first, but those are our values, our family and the place we should be,” Zourabichvili said.