MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Political uncertainty has gripped the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. The Georgian government, after years of trying to join the European Union, has decided to suspend that effort. In response, protesters have hit the streets to show their fear that the small country could slide back under Russian influence, as it was during the Soviet Union. Well, to talk about all of this, NPR's Charles Maynes joins me from Moscow, fresh from his own reporting trip to Georgia. Hey, Charles.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Hi there.
KELLY: Catch us up. Set the scene. As of Monday, where do things stand?
MAYNES: Well, for a fourth straight night, thousands protested outside the Parliament in the capital, Tbilisi. And for a fourth straight night, police responded with water cannons, tear gas, arrests - at least 200 so far. And as you noted, public anger here was set off by the ruling Georgian Dream party's decision to suspend EU accession talks for four years.
KELLY: Well, and why? I mean, I was doing my own reporting in Georgia not so long ago, and as I recall, almost everybody I talked to overwhelmingly wanted to join the EU.
MAYNES: Yeah, and they still do, according to polls. The government argues it's being blackmailed by the EU. This is really about Georgia's recent Parliamentary elections. The Georgian Dream says it won the October vote outright with some 54% of the vote. The opposition, and now the European Parliament, say those results were rigged, and they're demanding a do-over.
And this is not just any election. For many, it was seen as a referendum on whether Georgia's future lay with Europe or back with Russia as it was in the Soviet days because even before this decision to suspend talks, the government already faced charges of undermining Georgia's EU prospects by embracing seemingly pro-Russian policies and anti-Western rhetoric.
KELLY: Well, and as I mentioned, you have been out talking to people in Tbilisi recently. Take us there. I want everybody to listen to a little bit of your reporting.
LEVAN MAKASHVILI: And here, we have a bureau.
MAYNES: On a tour of Georgia's Parliament, Georgian Dream lawmaker Levan Makashvili reminds me his country has seen a lot in its three decades of post-Soviet independence.
MAKASHVILI: With the civil war back in over 30 years ago, the entire building was vandalized.
MAYNES: There was the chaos of the breakup of the USSR, multiple revolutions and a disastrous conflict with Russia in 2008. But as we look out a window onto the city's main avenue, he says today's struggle is between the Parliament and the street.
MAKASHVILI: So on the other side of the window, you have real action and noise, and then political action and noise on the other side of the window.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: These days, the noise centers around an election with big implications for Georgia's European future and how the country manages relations with its more powerful neighbor, Russia. The government takes a pragmatic approach towards Moscow, encouraging trade and tourism that it argues has kept the peace amid the war in Ukraine. Yet critics say these and other moves have also undermined Georgia's bid for European Union membership, much to Russia's delight.
ANASTASIA MARSAGISHVILI: We are here and we're protesting because our pro-Russian government rigged our elections and stole our right to vote.
MAYNES: Anastasia Marsagishvili is a university student who says Georgian Dream policies, like a Russian-inspired foreign agents law passed earlier this year despite mass protests - made the party too unpopular for an outright election victory.
MARSAGISHVILI: I don't know many people who support Georgian Dream. And I think it's impossible for them to get 54%. That's impossible.
MAYNES: Alexander Kinkvadze, a 19-year-old civil activist, also doesn't buy the election results. He points to his own home region of Guria, where he claims votes outnumbered residents.
ALEXANDER KINKVADZE: But government give us new mathematic. One plus one is three.
MAYNES: If the opposition framed the election as a choice between Russia and Europe, Georgian Dream ran on a platform of war or peace. That argument was persuasive to many, says Kornely Kakachia of the Georgian Institute for Politics.
KORNELY KAKACHIA: Georgia is not member, neither of NATO, neither member of European Union. So if tomorrow Russia invade Georgia, there's nobody actually who could protect Georgia. And that has quite huge impact at the end of day.
MAYNES: Back at Parliament, lawmaker Levan Makashvili rejects the notion his party gamed the vote or has a hidden Russian agenda. He says Georgian Dream wants a European future, but one guided by Georgian security interests.
MAKASHVILI: Our primary purpose of this country is to survive, and because of this, we have to make some very difficult decisions sometimes. And one of them is making some of the decisions that, you know, some of our Western partners may not like.
KELLY: Decisions that our Western partners do not like - OK. Reporting there from Charles Maynes in Tbilisi, Georgia. Charles is still with us. And I want to ask, where do things go from here? What are you watching for?
MAYNES: Well, all sides are digging in. Georgia's prime minister now says he won't allow a Western-backed revolution. Meanwhile, Georgia's pro-EU president has vowed not to leave her post until new elections are held and a, quote, "legitimate" Parliament is formed. And all this comes to a head in mid-December when her term ends, and the Georgian Dream-run Parliament says it will nominate her replacement.
KELLY: NPR's Charles Maynes. Thank you.
MAYNES: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.