My dear compatriots,

Behind me, you can see this shameful Iron Curtain that is dividing our country, our communities, our people.

The Russian Federation is, day after day, week after week, annexing new Georgian lands and the line of occupation is advancing more and more towards the centre of our nation, threatening to cut one day the Baku-Supsa pipeline or our main highway.

The immediate consequences for the people living in these areas are dramatic and the consequences for our nation as a whole could be disastrous if this process continues.  

I do not think that there is any so-called “misunderstanding” in this situation: the Russians know perfectly well what they are doing, which is to undermine our sovereignty and destabilize our nation.

We should react to this in a concerted and coordinated manner, with calm obviously, but also with firmness.

This is why I have called a meeting of the National Security Council. It is planned by our Constitution and nobody can deny it is required by the situation.

Our divisions, between the ruling coalition, the government, the Presidency and the opposition, are deep and well known by the Georgian public.

We should not hide them and it is good to have a fierce debate in the country when it comes to the best ways to bring back growth to our economy, to fight crime, to promote meritocracy, to improve our healthcare system, to defend rule of law or to ensure the individual freedoms of all our citizens.

But I do believe that our differences are not as important as our joint commitment to the sovereignty, the independence and the European fate of our nation.

And I do believe that we are all equally appalled by what the Russians are doing here and that we are all seeking the best way to respond to it.

But it would be better to do it in a coordinated manner, don’t you think?

Unfortunately, this is not for the moment the position of the government and the majority.

It can and it will - I sincerely hope it will change in the coming days and weeks.

Because a broad consensus needs to emerge in Georgia on the responses we bring to these behaviors.

Russian leadership is constantly testing us, testing our strength and our weaknesses, our capacity or incapacity to stand together and resist.

The last provocation in this long series of humiliations was obviously to give the Olympic flame to Mr Netchaev, whose only title of glory is to have bombed our towns and villages during the 2008 invasion as you know.

I do not believe, contrary to some in the government, that these barbwires, these annexations are done in order to ensure the safety of the Olympic Games.

I even think it is quite problematic to think so and speak so as a Georgian statesman…

But in any case, we should debate: shall Georgia have a delegation in Sotchi? Shall our athletes march under the eyes of Putin, in these Games that will be dedicated to his own glory?

I agree with the government: the Olympic Games should not be politicized.

But the problem is that they will be politicized, the problem is that they are already politicized. Not by us, but by the Russian leadership.

Yesterday it was Mr Netchaev, but many other similar things will happen weeks and months to come.

At least, we can all agree I hope that no official representatives of the Georgian State should go to the Games of the occupant.

For the rest, a vast public debate should take place. And in the case of further aggressions, in the case of further annexations, then I think we should clearly reconsider our participation…

But the problem is much larger than the Olympic Games obviously.

The problem is the current offensive of Russia against our sovereignty, but also against the sovereignty of our Moldovan or Ukrainian friends.

We should actively cooperate with Chisinau and Kiev, in order to shape a common response and operate a joint lobbying in Brussels and Washington.

But how can we coordinate efficiently with our friends if we cannot coordinate among Georgians?

How can we push the occupation of our lands high on the agenda of our Western allies if we do not do so at home first?

A too divided nation is a weak nation and becomes an easy prey for any kind of predators, especially the kind looking at us with envy from the North… So I would like to repeat from here my call for unity.

We are all citizens of Georgia, whether we support Georgian Dream, the National Movement, any other political force or no political force at all, we all care about the independence and the sovereignty of our nation, so, when it comes to issues like these barbwires, let us sit together and let us coordinate.  

History will judge us. Not on who won or lost the next elections, even if it is fundamental. But it will judge us on whether or not we have been able to overcome our personal ambitions, hatreds, angers, rivalries in order to serve our nation to the best of our capacities.

Let us serve it together! Let us all serve Georgia.