Updated September 10, 2025 at 1:54 PM CDT
The country of Georgia is now a "weak Democracy" following last year's parliamentary elections that saw a pro-Russian party win a majority of seats and no longer stands for the pro-Western future the small Caucasus region has fought so hard for since independence more than 30 years ago, says incumbent Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili.
"None of the institutions today that exist in Georgia are independent in the sense that they are all dependent on one party, which itself is dependent on one man … probably very linked to Russia," she told Morning Edition in an interview during a trip to Washington D.C. She was in the U.S. capital to garner Congressional support to put pressure on the ruling party, including addressing the Helsinki Commission on Sept. 10.
On Oct. 26, 2024 — following a vote fraught with reports of rampant voter fraud, intimidation and violence — the anti-Western, pro-Russian Georgian Dream Party secured 89 out of 150 seats in the Georgian parliament. Moscow denies any involvement.
After the results were announced, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, demanding the results be annulled – and more than 300 days later, demonstrations continue.
The day after the election, Zourabichvili, who was elected in 2018 as an independent, said the vote a "a total falsification" and that Georgia had fallen victim to a "Russia special operation."
She refused to step down from office and to this day remains the "legitimate [president] in the eyes of the people," she says. Zourabichvili says she carries with her the responsibility to further Georgia's pro-Western goals such as joining the European Union and NATO – aspirations the ruling Georgian Dream party has suspended since taking office, along with other policies the EU has deemed as "democratic backsliding."
Part of the USSR until its independence in 1991, Georgia has a complex relationship with Russia. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and the two fought a war that lasted only just over two weeks. Russia still occupies 20% of Georgia's territory.
But while the United States, along with the European Union, does not formally recognize Georgia's current government and still publicly supports Georgia's sovereignty, Zourabichvili says more can be done. She also notes that the playbook Moscow has used in Georgia – meddling in its elections and turning its government into a proxy – is one Russia has been testing out across the region to gain influence.
"They have tried it in Romania … Moldova is a [another] test case," she says. "It could be Ukraine after a ceasefire, where [Russia] would probably push for elections."
Speaking to NPR's Leila Fadel, Zourabichvili laid out why the U.S. should care about her country's fate.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Leila Fadel: Georgia Dream is a party that endorsed you in 2018.
Salome Zourabichvili: Not only endorsed, [it] introduced in the Constitution, the Euro-Atlantic integration.
Fadel: So, they were also facing towards Europe and towards the West.
Zourabichvili: Completely at the beginning.
Fadel: So what happened? Is there a moment that you can point to or that you started to see a shift? A democratic backsliding begin?
Zourabichvili: Well, you can point to different stages, of course, and the question is always, is this something that we didn't see and we could have stopped earlier? Clearly, when the justice reform was stopped was one point in time, in [20]21. But the real shift, I would say, comes in 2022. It comes with the Ukrainian war, it comes with the siding with Russia, it comes with not siding with our Western partners for the sanctions. And it comes with very harsh speeches coming from Mr. [Bidzina] Ivanishvili himself, the leader of the Georgian Dream, against our Western partners accusing them of wanting to wage a war from Georgia towards Russia.
Fadel: How do you see your role in this moment? You still call yourself the president of Georgia. You don't recognize this election.
Zourabichvili: I'm legitimate in the eyes of the people, but I'm there for two very important reasons. One is that I represent the people and their will to continue on the road since the independence and that was very clearly pro-Western. I represent another very strong will of the Georgian people, which is to see their opposition united.
Fadel: That's really the one of the criticisms about the opposition is that it's fragmented and therefore not effective. So your goal is to change that?
Zourabichvili: My goal is to, every day, try to change that. I think that we're making some progress and it's clearly the will of the people.
Fadel: Beyond why this is important to obviously Georgian people and their futures. Why does it matter to the West beyond Georgia's borders?
Zourabichvili: First of all, Georgia is a place where both the United States and the European Union have invested massively in constructing an independent state. But moreover, if that engagement was there, it was because there was an interest, a strategic interest in this region, which is one that is essential for connection between West Europe and Central Asia, between the two seas. What Russians know very well and have known for centuries is that whoever holds Georgia holds the Caucasus.
And another interest, I would say, is that there are so many efforts devoted to support Ukraine and avoid that Ukraine falls into the hands militarily of Russia. Russia did not succeed in more than 3 1/2 years, but now it's succeeding in Georgia in a much more silent way with [a] proxy government. They're succeeding to do exactly that.
Fadel: There are a lot of parallels, right? A partial occupation of land…
Zourabichvili: Yes. But they are recognizing, I think, internally, not outside, that this military all-out aggression policy is very costly to Russia and not very effective – and they're testing in Georgia an alternative policy. Rigged elections, a proxy government, growing influence economically and also financially. All of that is something that could be a new model for Russia to extend its influence.
This digital article was edited by Obed Manuel. The broadcast version of this interview was produced by Ana Perez and edited by Ashley Westerman.
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