France raises alarm about Georgia crackdown in rare call with tycoon Ivanishvili

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned a crackdown on pro-EU protests in Georgia in a rare telephone call on Wednesday with influential Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Macron's office said.

Ivanishvili, who made his fortune from metals and telecoms in Russia in the 1990s, is widely seen as Georgia's paramount leader. He was prime minister in 2012-13 and is honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

He has a French passport but has distanced himself from the West. He said in October he had refused contact with Washington, which suspended its strategic partnership with the South Caucasus country on Nov. 30 over the crackdown.

Georgian Dream confirmed the call, saying Macron had said he "was concerned about the situation in Georgia and expressed his desire to contribute to its complete de-escalation". Ivanishvili welcomed the idea of joint efforts and agreed to continue talks in the coming days, the party said on its Facebook account.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Georgia since nightly protests broke out almost two weeks ago against a decision by Georgian Dream to delay the former Soviet republic's longstanding goal of joining the European Union.

On Monday the EU ambassador said the crackdown merited sanctions by the bloc and Britain said it had suspended aid. Macron told Ivanishvili relations with the EU would be affected by developments in Georgia, the French statement said. Macron's office said the call took place on Wednesday morning.

The protesters accuse Georgian Dream of doing Russia's bidding. The party says it is taking a pragmatic approach to Moscow to secure peace in the light of the war in Ukraine.

France's presidential office said Macron condemned what it called intimidation of civil and opposition figures and police violence against peaceful demonstrators and journalists and called for release of all those "arbitrarily arrested".

Both sides accuse the other of initiating clashes that have involved police using tear gas, batons and water cannons and some protesters throwing fireworks. Masked men have attacked opposition figures and journalists in recent days.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU Ivanishvili critic who was born in Paris and served as France's ambassador to Georgia, met Macron and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump last week.

Zourabichvili describes Ivanishvili as a pro-Russian oligarch and says October's election, in which Georgian Dream was declared the winner with 54% of the vote, was tainted by fraud. He says he is not pro-Russian, renounced his Russian citizenship in 2011 and still wants Georgia to join the EU.

Georgian Dream and the country's electoral commission say the election was free and fair, while Western countries have said allegations of fraud must be investigated.