President, Georgia
President of Georgia on Protests, Security in the Black Sea Region, and the Country’s Prospects
President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili (from 2024; previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs) is an extraordinary figure.
Zourabichvili came to power in Georgia with the support of the then-ruling (and current) Georgian Dream party. However, as the Georgian government drifted toward Russia and amid growing domestic protest activity against Tbilisi’s initiatives to move closer to Moscow, she entered into opposition to the current Georgian authorities and supported the protesters.
Georgia, which officially takes a pro-Russian position on many international issues, including those conc...
About Salome Zourabichvili
Salome Zourabichvili, the fifth president of Georgia, has continued to characterize the situation in Georgia as a "hybrid capture of the state by Russia." In a March 2026 interview, she stated that Georgia is "under attack and under war," arguing that the ruling Georgian Dream party is implementing a "set of repressive laws" that are "copies of Russian laws." She described this as an alternative strategy to military aggression, using propaganda and elections to exert Russian influence. Zourabichvili also praised the United Kingdom's sanctions on Georgian Dream-affiliated media outlets, calling them "very well targeted." In subsequent appearances, Zourabichvili discussed the state of Georgia's democracy and its geopolitical position. At the Black Sea Security Forum in Odesa in May 2026, she said that "everybody wants change" in Georgia and that the population is "ready for a change." She assessed that the Trump administration has "practically no relations" with the Georgian Dream government)Skip. She also stated that Russia has "already lost" the war in Ukraine because it has been unable to demonstrate victory after more than four years. In a June 2026 interview, she described the 2024 Georgian parliamentary election as "stolen" and "rigged in a very technological way," and said that fear has "changed sides" from the population to the elite.
Transcript (19 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Narrator0:00
Salome Zourabichvili was the undisputed president of Georgia from 2018 to 2024. After contested elections in 2024, Mikheil Kavelashvili of the pro-Russian Dream Party declared himself president. Nevertheless, the EU and Ukraine continue to recognize Zourabichvili as a legitimate representative of Georgia. The United States, however, accepted the disputed election and recognizes Mikheil Kavelashvili as president. Kyiv Post editor-in-chief Bohdan Nahaylo spoke with President Zourabichvili on the sidelines of the Odessa Security Forum 2026, shortly after Georgia's Independence Day, celebrated on May 26th.
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Bohdan Nahaylo0:36
Madam President, it's a pleasure to welcome you as a representative of an important country of the Black Sea region to Odessa. And let me start by congratulating you as a Georgian on your recent anniversary of your independence.
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Salome Zourabichvili0:54
Thank you.
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Bohdan Nahaylo0:54
What does that mean for you personally? Let's start with that. Georgia's independence over such a long, difficult history.
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Salome Zourabichvili1:02
Personally, I think also for many Georgians, but for me personally, it's very important because I was, as you might know, born out of an immigrant family in France when Georgia was still Soviet Union, and I was born and raised in the belief that Georgia would be certainly independent again and striving for that independence and celebrating this 26th of May outside of Georgia every year since my, I think, 10th birthday I was allowed to participate. So, it's both emotionally very important and I think that it's very important for every Georgian today because we understand that this independence is not a given forever, that it's under lots of pressure today, to say the least.
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Bohdan Nahaylo1:55
Can I just interrupt and ask you very briefly, do you see parallels in the history of Georgia and Ukraine 100 years ago, what was happening in both, you know, former victims of the Russian Empire?
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Salome Zourabichvili2:08
I think we have gone through exactly the same history over the past two centuries almost. So, we have much in common. Also, we have gone through the same history more recently by being the subjects of Russian aggressions, military aggressions, indirect aggressions. You had little green men, we had blue helmets, Russians. So, all of that makes it for both our countries that we have much in common and that explains that there is a deep solidarity from the Georgian population and on the streets of Tbilisi.
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Bohdan Nahaylo2:54
I visited Abkhazia, occupied Abkhazia, South Ossetia. And I guess there are parallels with Donbas now and with Crimea and Transnistria. Okay, looking at the present situation, how does Georgia fit into the whole issue of Black Sea security? Is too much emphasis placed on Ukraine, granted there's a war, so that's understandable. But do you think that Georgia should be getting more European and international attention?
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Salome Zourabichvili3:30
I think yes, of course, that you cannot imagine a Black Sea security and cooperation policy in which Georgia would not be an integral part of. That Black Sea has become an important aspect of European Union strategy as well as NATO strategy means that you need both sides and you need a European Ukraine, otherwise it's a Russian sea again. So I think that the stakes of this war are much more than just Ukraine. It's Ukraine plus the Black Sea and of course in that sense it will be very important once the war is over for these Black Sea projects to come to life. It would be very important to have really independent Georgia that would really cooperate with the Western partners.
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Bohdan Nahaylo4:26
But what I'd like to ask you is, Madam President, you know, Ukrainians have had the peaceful revolutions, the Orange Revolution, the Revolution of Dignity. The Belarusians had their long protests against the falsification. But do you feel that the hundreds of days of protests, peaceful protests in Tbilisi and elsewhere are getting the attention and recognition that they deserve?
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Salome Zourabichvili4:52
Probably not. If you look from Tbilisi, probably not. But at the same time there are so many open crises just around us that you can understand that the limelight is going elsewhere than on the very peaceful protests that happen in Georgia. That's their characteristic and of course it attracts less attention from journalists than when you have more action, more violence on the streets. But what is very important is that it's a long-lasting protest that is by now spreading in the different cities of Georgia and there is a much wider discontent toward the regime than what is concretely shown in this protest. So I think that we have not seen the end of that, on the contrary.
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Bohdan Nahaylo5:46
I cannot refrain from asking you about another president of Georgia who, sadly, is still in prison in Georgia. I don't want to go into the politics, but what is the latest about his state of health and well-being? Because he is connected to Odessa as well.
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Salome Zourabichvili6:04
He is connected. Apparently, his state of health is fine because he is testifying himself in the court when he is called in the court. And he has this chance, more than other prisoners, to be able to talk directly on the televisions. But I think that the links with Ukraine are very clear and one way out would be probably extradition.
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Bohdan Nahaylo6:33
Okay. And finally, what's going to be your main message today? You're about to appear on the main stage. You're in the Opera House in Odessa. What message would you like to get across, not just to the Ukrainian public, but to the broader international public?
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Salome Zourabichvili6:48
I think that the message is that Ukraine has practically won this part of the war, which is a military war, and that we should all pay more attention to the fact that Russia is now moving to hybrid war. We are the example of hybrid war, and that will concern all of us. And that's another war that we have to win all together.
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Bohdan Nahaylo7:13
And for fellow Georgians?
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Salome Zourabichvili7:15
For fellow Georgians, to keep on until the end, to fight and to keep independence. All of them. They will all understand what it means.
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Bohdan Nahaylo7:23
They will understand. Thank you, madam president.
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Salome Zourabichvili7:28
Thank you.