Georgia sends protest note to OSCE, while Valtonen invites Kobakhidze to Finland to attend any demonstration

The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed concern over Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen’s visit to Georgia in her capacity as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, and has sent a protest note to the OSCE Secretariat and participating states, the ministry announced.

In the note to the OSCE Secretariat, Georgia’s foreign ministry stated that, in addition to the official program of her visit, Minister Valtonen joined a street protest organized by a small group of anti-government activists and made statements that attempted to mislead the international community about the situation in Georgia.

Meanwhile, Finnish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Elina Valtonen contacted Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, inviting him to visit Finland to “meet with representatives of independent media and participate in any demonstration of his choice.”

“The future of Georgia depends solely on the Georgian people. The same applies to all OSCE participating states. For people to exercise this right, they need freedom of speech and free and fair elections with political alternatives. I apologize for having to cancel our meeting in Tbilisi due to scheduling issues,” Valtonen stated.

Yesterday, Irakli Kobakhidze accused the OSCE chairperson-in-office of receiving instructions to support revolutionary processes in Georgia.