Hungary and Slovakia are well known to have the governments with the friendliest approach to Russia. For example, the Slovakian PM Robert Fico will be the only EU leader that will go to Moscow in May 2025 for the Victory day, and the Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán was harshly criticized for how he used the semestral presidency of the EU to wink to the Kremlin’s positions about Ukraine.

So it was not a surprise when the media reported that the proposal of the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, to sanction state officials of Georgia involved in the repression of pro-European demonstrations was vetoed by Budapest and Bratislava, during the December 16 meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.. The Georgian Dream party in power is in fact considered close, and getting closer, to Moscow and Orbán was quick to go to Tbilisi after the last contested elections to express his support for the new executive.

What was a surprise was the statement from the Georgian PM, Irakli Kobakhidze, shared on X on December 17, according to which “Georgian people” received support not only from Hungary and Slovakia, but also from Italy, Spain and Romania. Three countries with very different political majorities and whose positions about Ukraine, for example, do not align with Orbán’s and Fico’s ones. And the presence of Romania in the list, after the decision of the Constitutional Court to nullify the first round of presidential elections because of Russian interference, was particularly odd.

The Italian fact-checking organization Facta quickly contacted different diplomatic sources in Italy and, with the help of the colleagues from Factual and Maldita, also in Romania and Spain, and it immediately emerged that Kobakhidze’s statement was false.

Later in the evening of December 17 the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the three countries officially rebuffed Kobakhidze’s statement on X.

Romania stated that it was “deeply disappointed about the choice of presenting inaccurately internal discussions at EU level. We use this opportunity to reiterate our strong concern about the Georgian Govt’s decision on EU accession dialogue and the violent repression of Georgian’s legitimate protests”.

Similarly, Spain underlined that it “has been very clear expressing its serious concern about civil rights in Georgia and about alleged disinformation campaigns. We have fully supported the decisions adopted yesterday by the FAC. Disinformation is a threat to our democracies that we will always oppose”.

In a note, Italy reiterated its condemnation of the violences happened recently in Georgia and expressed support for the sanctions proposed by Kaja Kallas, hoping that the country will review its latest decisions that suspended Tbilisi’s European path.

So, with different nuances, it was clear from the reactions of the three member States that their presence on the list was a mistake. They did not express support for the current Georgian government, nor they opposed – quite the contrary – the sanctions proposed by Kaja Kallas and vetoed by Budapest and Bratislava. Why the Georgian PM Kobakhidze decided to include these countries among the ones that he thinks support his government remains a mystery. Maybe it was a misunderstanding among diplomats that spoke to each other, but maybe it was a less innocent attempt to drive a wedge in the relatively united front of 25 EU countries that support Ukraine and oppose Russia’s aggressive foreign policy.

We tried to contact the Georgian government to ask for explanations but we are still waiting for a reply.