Foreign Ministry expresses support for Georgian president's leadership in her efforts to defend rule of law and democracy

RIGA - The Latvian Foreign Ministry has expressed support for Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili's leadership in her efforts to defend the rule of law, democracy and the Georgian people's choice of Euro-Atlantic integration.

As the ministry's spokeswoman Diana Eglite told LETA, on December 16, the European Union's (EU) Foreign Affairs Council managed to reach a political agreement to suspend the the visa-free regime for holders of Georgian diplomatic and service passports.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Latvia has been actively supporting and will continue to support sanctioning of Georgian government officials and will continue to support Georgia's people - youth, independent media, nongovernmental organizations - everyone who has expressed support for Georgia's integration with the EU.

"We are considering further entry restrictions on particular Georgian officials, but since the work is in process, we do not comment on concrete names," the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Zourabichvili will serve as President of Georgia until December 29. Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former footballer loyal to the ruling pro-Russian Georgian Dream party, will become Georgia's next President, consolidating Georgian Dream's power after the October elections, which the opposition insists were rigged with Russian help. Kavelashvili is due to take office on December 29.

Georgia has been gripped by political turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party announced that it had won the October parliamentary elections.