On May 26, Konstantin Zatulin, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, commented on the statement by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze regarding Georgia's aim to obtain EU membership by 2030 along with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"I do not know what, except for the desire to demonstrate his patriotism, the Georgian Prime Minister was inspired by. How by 2030 he will return [the separatist] Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are developing as independent states, are under the protection of Russia and are recognized as such, I do not really understand," Zatulin stated. Zatulin believes that in making this statement, the Georgian Prime Minister aimed to position himself as a politician who "will not yield to the opposition in anything in claims to join the European Union or return of Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

Zatulin added that the law on foreign agents, which has sparked protests in Georgia, plays a significant role in this context. "This is most likely caused by the internal political struggle that has escalated in Georgia in connection with the adoption of the law on foreign agents. And the desire of the Georgian authorities, even though they supported this law against the opinion of the West, to show that we are not really under Russian influence. We are setting goals that are in conflict with Russia, and you can be calm about our orientation towards certain priorities in our policy that go against the interests of Russia. He is making excuses to the domestic opposition and the West," Zatulin explained.

Moreover, in response to Prime Minister Kobakhidze's statement, Grigory Karasin, the head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, dismissed it as mere speculation. Karasin emphasized that the primary concern for Kobakhidze should be the enactment of the law on foreign agents. "Reasoning about how Georgia will live in 2030, no one can forbid. They want to live in one state with Abkhazia and South Ossetia or maybe there with some other states - this is reasoning. Now the main thing for the Prime Minister of Georgia is to ensure that people who are kept by foreign states and are engaged in politics and information activities are designated in the law," he added. He suggested that other discussions were merely "reasoning from the evil one."

Karasin also noted that politicians have the right to speculate, and Prime Minister Kobakhidze is no exception. "In this rather difficult situation, I would single out the fact that he is in a one-on-one battle with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who clearly, for obvious reasons, takes the position of the Western minority and, more specifically, the European Union and other Western countries to defeat the current government of Georgia," Karasin remarked.