"The abrupt departure of several pro-European government ministers in Georgia has prompted a government crisis and alarmed senior European Union officials, who fear a country pivotal to Western interests could be shifting toward Russia.
Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze, the minister of European affairs and several deputy ministers resigned Wednesday, one day after pro-Western Defense Minister Irakli Alasania was let go. Later, Mr. Alasania's Free Democrats signaled they would pull out of the ruling coalition, leaving its future unclear.
The departing ministers said Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili was veering from a European path, a claim he denied. The personnel shifts are entangled in Georgia's complex political infighting, but EU officials worry they could portend a slowdown or even reversal of the country's move toward Europe.
"Since many responsible European-related officials are leaving, this is really alarming," said Linas Linkevicius, Lithuania's foreign minister. "Many could be considered as pro-European, and this could harm the overall situation."
Carl Bildt, a former Swedish foreign minister and an architect of the EU's Eastern outreach toward its eastern neighbors, said Georgia's path toward Europe is under threat. "The entire team that has been associated with the Western policy direction has either resigned or been fired," Mr. Bildt said.
‘The entire team that has been associated with the Western policy direction has either resigned or been fired...There is no question there will be people in the Kremlin applauding.'
-Carl Bildt, a former Swedish foreign minister.
Russia may not be directly behind the moves, he added, "but there is no question there will be people in the Kremlin applauding."
EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said the departing ministers were good partners for the bloc. "We appreciate the good cooperation over the years with the ministers who now leave the Georgian government," she said.
She noted that Georgia is seeing more criminal prosecutions of prominent political figures. "These processes should be fully transparent and free of political motivation," she said.
Countries such as Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Kazakhstan have struggled to navigate a geopolitical clash of giants as Russia and the West battle over Ukraine and more broadly over regional influence. Georgia has been among the most vocal of these in declaring its intent to align with the West.
The country has pushed hard to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, contributing more troops to NATO missions than any other nonmember. It also recently finalized an association agreement with the EU, committing to stronger trade and political ties.
Georgian leaders, who regularly proclaim their affinity with Europe, are intensely wary of Russia, due in part to the country's 2008 invasion of Georgia and Moscow's continuing influence on separatist enclaves in the country.
But Western leaders worry that Georgia hasn't democratized enough to fully join their orbit. They were jarred by Georgia's decision in July to file criminal charges against former President Mikheil Saakashvili, perceived as strongly pro-Western. Georgian leaders portrayed that as an anticorruption move, but EU leaders feared it was politically motivated.
The current political crisis arises amid another corruption investigation, one that has targeted leaders of Georgia's defense department. When Mr. Alasania criticized the probe as a politically motivated crusade against pro-European figures, Mr. Garibashvili quickly fired him.
"Instead of contributing to the investigation process to ascertain the truth, the minister's activities are leading to politicization of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces," Mr. Garibashvili said.
Mr. Garibashvili also reiterated that Georgia will stay on a Western path. But Mr. Saakashvili said the Georgian government is now controlled by Russian oligarchs and is persecuting its political adversaries.
"We have been warning all our Western friends it's going to happen," Mr. Saakashvili said, adding that "some of them were turning a blind eye," beguiled by the government's repeated pro-European pronouncements.
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, a leading foreign-policy expert in the European Parliament, responded to the news of the departures by tweeting this analysis: "The invisible hand of Russia turns Georgia away from its European course."
Mr. Linkevicius, the Lithuanian foreign minister, warned that whatever its underlying causes, the upheaval could play into the hands of antidemocratic forces.
"This is a very decisive period, as we all know," Mr. Linkevicius said. "I hope that these internal clashes won't overshadow what Georgia must do first of all-implement reforms and the association agreement."
