Vote Sunday Could Put Georgia ‘Back In Putin’s Orbit’

As results came in from Georgia’s parliamentary elections Sunday, sources in the capital city Tblisi told Newsmax that the increasingly likely big win for the ruling Georgia Dream Party would be a major boost for Vladimir Putin.

“Right now, Georgia is facing an existential choice with two radically different destinations,” Dr. Nino Japaridze, senior advisor Edison Research and herself a Georgian, told Newsmax shortly before the balloting began, “A path that would make Georgia an integral part of Europe and NATO versus a path that would bring Georgia back into Putin’s orbit, where freedom and democracy have no oxygen.”

All signs now point to the latter path. With roughly 70 percent of the votes counted, Georgia Dream — which favors friendly relations with Russia and opposes involvement in the Russo-Ukraine Wa r— had 53 percent of the vote.