Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized the crackdown on protesters in Georgia and accused the country’s leaders of bowing to Moscow.
Events in the former Soviet state are “not just a problem of one nation and not just of our region,” Zelensky said in Kiev during his evening video address.
The government is “pushing the country into clear dependence on Russia,” he said.
“If Moscow praises the government in Georgia, it clearly shows who they are working for in Tbilisi and for whom the protests are being spread,” he continued.
Ukraine is working with European countries on a response, Zelensky said, adding: “I have given the order to prepare appropriate sanctions resolutions.”
In recent years, Ukraine and Georgia have been politically close in their opposition to Russia.
Protests take place every night in the South Caucasus republic against the country’s newly elected, Moscow-friendly government for suspending the EU accession process.
Police have used force to disperse the demonstrations, using tactics reminiscent of Moscow.
Protests continued for a seventh straight night on Wednesday, with participants blocking the capital Tbilisi’s central thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue.
Heavily armed police officers initially took no action against the demonstrators. However, several opposition politicians were arrested throughout Wednesday.
Four opposition parties had met at a hotel in Tbilisi to discuss their next steps. The parties entered parliament in late October after elections, which were marred by allegations of rigging, but did not take up their mandates in protest.
As the representatives left the hotel, masked men arrested one of the politicians, media reports said.
Like diplomats and other government officials before them, a senior official of the Interior Ministry’s special forces has also resigned from his post, Georgian news agency Interpressnews reported.
