Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Georgia filed an application to become a member of the European Union. Since then, the ruling Georgian Dream party has found itself in the hot water over a slew of decisions, statements, and criticisms leveled against the West. The ruling government has also taken a U-turn on freedoms and human rights. As recent as May 2023, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili attended the Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) meeting in Budapest, where the politician lashed out against LGBTQ+ people claiming they were spreading propaganda that was against the country's “traditional family values.” But it isn’t just the ruling government's anti-LGBTQ+ stance or its deteriorating track record on freedoms and democracy that is drawing international attention. Georgian Dream has also made significant shifts in its relationship with Russia ever since the latter invaded Ukraine. In May 2023, Georgia resumed flights to and from Russia. One of those flights carried Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s relatives, including his internationally sanctioned daughter Ekaterina Vinokurova and her husband Alexander Vinokurov, who is also under sanctions. Lavrov’s family was visiting Georgia for the wedding of Mika (Moshe) Vinokurov, the brother-in-law of Lavrov’s daughter. Also in May, while attending a security conference in Bratislava, Georgian Prime Minister Gharibashvili overtly accused Ukraine of being the main reason why the war started in the first place. “I don’t want to quote the statements of the Russian government, but one of the reasons was Ukraine’s will and determination to become a member of NATO. Therefore we see the consequence,” said Gharibashvili. During the same conference, he lashed out at the EU as well, criticizing the institution for granting Ukraine and Moldova the candidate status while denying the same status to Georgia. The Prime Minister claimed that Georgia was ahead of the other two nations in terms of “reforms, performance, and this and that.” In response to the prime minister’s statements during the conference in Bratislava, MEP Rasa Juknevičienė wrote, “Govorit Moskva!” (Moscow speaks!), on Twitter. Former US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly described the statements as “bad analysis” and “offensive,” blaming “Ukraine for its sovereign will to join the West.” Unlike the Georgian Dream party, the EU sees Georgia as lagging behind Ukraine and Moldova. During the 12th meeting of the EU–Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee, Marina Kaljurand who was chairing the meeting, said, “Georgia was lagging behind Ukraine and Moldova and that its fulfillment of the 12 recommendations laid out by the EU for its candidate status to be reexamined was ‘incomplete, patchy, and often superficial’ while warning the country risked missing a ‘historic chance’ to join the EU,” reported OC Media. To which, Georgian Dream’s General Secretary and Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze said Kaljurand was “talking about another country and is completely out of touch with reality.” The ruling government announced its plan to apply for EU membership in March 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine — one day after Ukraine made its formal application. At the time, the move was described as a U-turn for the ruling Georgian Dream Party, which up until recently, insisted it would not accelerate its initial timeline of applying for membership in 2024. In June 2022, the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said, “We recommend to Council to grant the European perspective [to Georgia] and to come back and assess how Georgia meets a number of conditions, before granting it candidate status.” To be granted candidate status, the country must meet certain conditions, including reducing political polarization, reforming the judiciary, ensuring functioning state institutions, strengthening anti-corruption measures, including de-oligarchisation, and others. While the de-oligarchisation clause does not mention any specific names, it is widely understood to refer to the Georgian Dream founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. Ivanishvili is a key figure in Georgian politics. He made his fortune in the pre-Putin era in Russia and founded the Georgian Dream party in 2012. While Ivanishvili publicly announced his decision to leave politics in 2021, some believe he is still calling the shots behind the scenes.