Three Georgian Dream MPs have been invited to attend the Alliance of Sovereign Nations summit in Washington in early March by Republican representative Anna Paulina Luna, a far-right figure known for her fringe views and close alignment with the Kremlin. According to the pro-government media outlet Imedi, the delegation will consist of MPs Nikoloz Samkharadze, Lika Shartava, and Mariam Lashkhi.
According to the summit’s website, the event, put on by the late far-right activist Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action advocacy group, ‘will bring together business, political, academic, and other societal leaders from around the world for an impactful and informative event focused on issues affecting the world’.
The real-world aims of the summit remain largely obtuse.
‘We stand for the sovereign rights of nations, against the authoritarian overreach of transnational institutions, and for reforming global organisations so that they respect national identity and help — not hinder — the innate interests of freedom-seekers everywhere’, the mission statement read.
Along with Luna, the honorary chair, ‘featured guests’ include House Speaker Mike Johnson, Markus Frohnmaier, a member of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party, and MEP António Tânger Corrêa of the Portuguese conservative Chega party. Frohnmaier has been described as being ‘under [Russia’s] absolute control’ in a strategy paper issued by President Vladimir Putin’s Presidential Administration, while Corrêa has been a proponent of controversial conspiracy theories, such as the ‘great replacement theory’.
For her part, Luna has repeatedly met with Russian officials in recent months and called for a resumption of trade between the US and Russia, saying ‘our two countries do not need to be enemies’. She has also spread anti-Ukraine conspiracy theories, drawing pushback from Ukraine’s Ambassador to the US Olha Stefanishyna.
Luna recently drew attention in the South Caucasus after she introduced a bill to end restrictions on US aid to Azerbaijan.
Lashkhi, one of the Georgian Dream MPs attending the event, has also often found herself in the centre of controversy.
In an English-language interview in May 2024 with the UK podcast The News Agents, she referenced one of the most popular Georgian Dream conspiracy theories, that the so-called ‘deep state’ and ‘global war party’ are seeking to undermine Georgia and pull the country into war with Russia. When pressed by the interviewer who specifically she was referring to, Lashkhi compared the groups to the ‘Freemasons’, but conceded that she did not know who else was part of the ‘global war party’. The exchange was widely mocked at the time.
In May 2025, Lashkhi was confronted and heckled by two activists while at a cafe. The two activists were later sentenced to 12 days of administrative detention.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
