Viktor Orban to visit Georgia after election ‘rigged by Moscow’

EU officials distance the bloc from the pro-Putin PM of Hungary, who holds its rotating presidency

Viktor Orban will visit Georgia to celebrate its election result, despite warnings it was rigged by the Kremlin to keep the country in its sphere of influence.
Hungary’s pro-Putin prime minister is travelling to Tbilisi to meet Irakli Kobakhidze, his Georgian counterpart, who has tilted towards Moscow in a blow to Georgian hopes of one day joining the EU.
The ruling Georgian Dream party – led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire oligarch – kept power with 54 per cent of the vote, in an election fought between pro-Western and pro-Russian parties.
Brussels and Washington have both denounced electoral “irregularities”, amid widespread claims of party-organised interference and intimidation.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, warned on Monday that Mr Orban did not represent the bloc and had “no authority in foreign policy”.
Mr Kobakhidze, meanwhile, said he expected a reset with Brussels. He added: “Our main foreign policy priority is, naturally, European integration. Everything will be done to achieve Georgia’s full integration into the EU by 2030.”
Mr Orban, a high-profile outlier among EU leaders for his opposition to Western sanctions on Moscow, congratulated Georgian Dream on its “overwhelming victory” on social media before the final result was known.
Mr Orban, who has regularly clashed with Brussels on migration and sovereignty issues, said: “The people of Georgia know what is best for their country, and made their voice heard today!” 
Salome Zourabichvili, Georgia’s pro-Western president, blamed the result on a “special Russian operation”, a reference to Putin’s term for his illegal invasion of Ukraine, and called for protests on Monday night.
The demonstrations will be held on the day that Mr Orban, who outraged European leaders by holding talks with Putin in Moscow in July and has vetoed EU aid to Ukraine, arrives in the Georgian capital.
An EU parliament mission to Georgia expressed concern about “democratic backsliding”, saying it had seen instances of “ballot box stuffing” and the “physical assault” of observers during the election.
Natia Seskuria, associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said: “From the Russian perspective, democratic backsliding in Georgia and its alienation with the EU and the US is a significant victory. 
“The Kremlin is directly interested in Georgia losing EU integration aspirations,” she added.
The Georgian result came after Moldova narrowly voted in favour of joining the EU in a referendum that was dogged by accusations of Russian interference.
Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the EU. However, sources in Brussels were quick to point out that Mr Orban’s visit should not be seen as a European endorsement of the result.
“Prime Minister Orban’s visit to Tbilisi takes place exclusively in the framework of the bilateral relations between Hungary and Georgia,” a European Commission spokesman said. 
“Prime Minister Orban has not received any mandate from the European Council to visit Tbilisi.” 
The EU position was clear and the bloc expected the election “irregularities” to be properly investigated, the spokesman added.
“If Orban were to claim the European hat for himself during the trip, this would be imposture and a brazen cock-and-bull story,” an EU diplomat told the Politico website.
EU leaders are set to discuss the Georgian election at a summit in Budapest in November. Georgia, which was invaded by Russia in 2008, applied to join the EU after the invasion of Ukraine.
As many as 80 per cent of Georgians want to join the EU but the South Caucasus country had its candidate status frozen in July over a law on “foreign influence” that critics said mirrored Russian legislation used to silence Kremlin critics.
Hungary has already introduced a similar law targeting foreign-funded NGOs.
There were huge protests in Georgia in May against the legislation which led to US sanctions on Georgian officials.