On April 26, Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Georgian ambassador to express a remonstrance in connection with the gross remarks by Georgian Defense Minister Okruashvili regarding Russia. Last Tuesday Okruashvili made an official statement that says Georgia supplied Russia with poor-quality wine which “did not sell in Europe.” The high-ranking bureaucrat did not even try to show repentance in public. On the contrary, he spoke insultingly in a most cynical manner. “In Russia one can sell everything, even faecal matter,” the Georgian defense minister was quoted as saying.
The quotation comes from Okruashvili’s statement, which kicked off a marketing campaign for the sale of Georgian wine on new foreign markets. For some unknown reasons, the defense minister had been charged with the export of alcoholic beverages. He said that the “marketing campaign will be politically motivated.” The minister also unveiled the slogan: “Buy the best Georgian wine banned in Russia!” On March 27, Russian Supervisory Authority for Consumer Goods imposed a ban on the import of Georgian and Moldavian wines after the agency discovered some harmful foreign matter in the grape.
Speaking to Pravda.ru, president of the Russian Lawyer’s Guild and member of the Russian Public Chamber comments on Okruashvili’s statement: “This is simply outrageous. Georgia’s Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili resorted to an unceremonious abuse of all the peoples living in Russia. Actually, he delivered a message that read: ‘Those Russians can drink any sh*tty beverage because they are real drunkards. That is why we sold sh*t to them.’ How else can you interpret those shocking remarks about faeces? It also makes me wonder what state the minister was in while saying the words."
The comments are really an outrage. From the point of view of generally applicable law with regard to physical persons, the comments would constitute good grounds for filing a suit. But we have a political situation in this case i.e. the government of a state that employs such an unruly official should act as a defendant.
By and large, it is difficult to comprehend today’s Georgia. Why on earth should the defense minister be responsible for wine exports? This is just nonsense! Can it be that wine sales revenue goes to military spending? Can the Georgian government follow some special strategic logic?
Looks like the defense minister needs a “wine burden” to pay the bills and boost the morale of the German army. The military is now conducting exercises, trying to show off its effectiveness and might.
I’d like to point out that our peoples have always been friends, always showed respect to each other. But these days the pro-American politicians are trying to cross out the past. The people of Georgia really suffer from such a policy. As far as I know, the majority of Georgians condemn Saakashvili’s political course. He not only turns a blind eye to centuries of the brotherly relations between the two peoples, he also ignores the interests of his own country.
It’s noteworthy that the supplies of the poor-quality Georgian wines infringe on the rights of the Russian consumer. Those wines might as well be a health threat. Ruthless businessmen and political scoundrels just poison our people. Then why should we enrich that nation? Why should we allow their goods to reach our markets?
As far as economy is concerned, any nation can only benefit from its export operations. By all appearances, the goals of the Georgian government are entirely different. They seek to satisfy their own personal ambitions and kowtow to the United States.”
Pravda.Ru
Translated by Guerman Grachev
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