EU foreign ministers join forces to help Georgia – Lithuania's Landsbergis

VILNIUS – EU foreign ministers are joining forces and are setting up a mediator group to help Georgia to resolve its political crisis, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says.

Asked about a visit to Georgia, Landsbergis on Friday did not rule out such a possibility, stressing that he would go there under a wider format to represent more EU member states.

"There are such plans (to go to Georgia), we are now looking into whether such a visit would be beneficial. A mediator group from foreign ministers is being set up, and it would definitely include more than one country, it would be a wider one," Landsbergis told a press conference on Friday.

"I believe it would be important to send a signal to Georgia not only from Lithuania but, first of all, it should be a European signal because we are speaking about Georgia's further European and transatlantic integration, and there's a need for that wider signal," the minister said.

Georgia has been in the midst of a deepening political crisis lately, sparked by last year's parliament election, after the country's previous Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stepped down over the ruling party's plans to detain opposition leader Meliya.

An attempt to detain Melia, leader of the United National Movement, a political party founded by ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilim sparked the opposition's anger.

Tbilisi has also received warning from the country's several allies in the West.

The Georgian opposition maintains that the general election on October 31, which the ruling Georgian Dream party won with a slim majority, was rigged.