Kremlin says 'strongly rejects' accusations of interference in Georgia vote
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili accused Moscow of being behind election fraud in Georgia, saying it was part of a 'Russian special operation' and Tbilisi's opposition has accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of taking orders from Moscow.
Russia's capital city, Moscow. Picture: Pixabay.com
MOSCOW - The Kremlin on Monday "strongly rejected" accusations by Georgia's pro-EU president and opposition of interference in Tbilisi's weekend election.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili accused Moscow of being behind election fraud in Georgia, saying it was part of a "Russian special operation" and Tbilisi's opposition has accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of taking orders from Moscow.
"We strongly reject these accusations. There was no intervention. These accusations are completely unsubstantiated," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, asked about Zurabishvili's claims.
"There are attempts to destabilise the situation in the republic," he said, referring to the Georgian president.
The Kremlin spokesman instead accused European countries of trying to interfere in the Caucasus country's elections.
"There are attempts to interfere -- but not from Russia's side," he said.
"A huge number of forces from European countries and various European institutions have tried to influence the outcome of the vote. No one was even hiding this, these were public statements," Peskov said.
Brussels and Washington have said there were "irregularities" in the Georgian weekend election, calling for an investigation.