‘Back to her employers’: Pro-Western Georgian ex-president takes up US fellowship

Salome Zourabichvili will continue to call for new elections in the former Soviet republic, the McCain Institute has said

Former Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has taken up a fellowship at the McCain Institute at Arizona State University, the US academic institution has said. The institute is named after former US senator, the late John McCain, a renowned foreign policy hawk who backed the Western-supported coup that overthrow the Ukrainian government in 2014.

Georgia’s parliament speaker has slammed the appointment, asserting she is going back to “the entity that employed her.”  

Zourabichvili, who was born in France and maintained a pro-Western stance during her tenure, has been chosen for the 2025 Kissinger Fellowship, named after former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the McCain Institute announced in a statement on Monday.  

Commenting on the offer earlier this week, the speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, drew parallels between Zourabichvili’s appointment and former President Mikhail Saakashvili’s past positions abroad.   

“Almost 12 years ago, a similar gesture was extended to ..Saakashvili, at Tufts University,” he wrote on X on Tuesday. “Despite having pledged allegiance to Georgia alone, Saakashvili later became a Ukrainian citizen and Zourabishvili too, eventually, is likely to return to her native France.”  

Papuashvili concluded that neither had truly served Georgia, returning instead “to the entity that employed them.”  

Ex-president of Georgia Salome Zourabishvili has been offered a fellowship at the McCain Institute, in the United States.

Almost 12 years ago, a similar gesture was extended to another ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, at Tufts University. Both of them willingly took up the… pic.twitter.com/KxNUC4GrmC— Shalva Papuashvili