TBILISI, Georgia — Sweden is pausing government cooperation with Georgian authorities as a major row boils over last weekend’s disputed election in which the Russia-friendly ruling party claimed victory.
“Sweden stands ready with open doors if Georgia moves towards a more democratic development,” said Swedish Ambassador to Georgia Anna Lyberg in a post shared on X, but noted that Stockholm “is pausing all bilateral development cooperation with [Georgian] authorities.”
The South Caucasian nation went to the polls Saturday, with the Russia-leaning Georgian Dream party claiming victory over the pro-European opposition in an election marred by violence. Opposition parties cried foul, claiming the pivotal vote was rigged.
So far only a handful of countries have accepted Georgian Dream’s claims of victory, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Hungary and China.
EU ministers on Monday called for an impartial investigation into complaints raised by international observers.
However, Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa said Monday that the decision to halt all direct government cooperation with Tbilisi was actually made before Georgia went to the polls.
Dousa expressed concerns about recent developments in Georgia, highlighting a recently adopted law on foreign agents, widely believed to be inspired by the Kremlin’s playbook to target government critics.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday noted that international observers “have also not declared the elections to be free and fair,” urging the EU membership candidate country to conduct a transparent inquiry.
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