Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard reiterated the statement made by her Finnish counterpart — and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office — that the Georgian authorities must respect democratic principles. Stenergard wrote about this on X.

In her respective post, the Swedish FM shared the message by OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Elina Valtonen, addressed to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, and noted that she joins her words.

“Georgia has freely committed, as an OSCE participating state, to ensure that its people can decide their own future through free and fair elections, open debate and a free press. Sweden calls on Georgia’s authorities to live up to these commitments,” Stenergard stated.

Elina Valtonen’s recent visit — as the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office — to Georgia ended prematurely, as she attended civil protests in capital Tbilisi and did not meet with Kobakhidze. Afterwards, the Georgian authorities and Valtonen exchanged a series of “attacks” against each other.