Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on Thursday harshly criticised the captain of the country's national basketball team for signing a contract to play in arch-enemy Russia with CSKA Moscow. Tornike Shengelia penned a three-year deal with Russia's basketball powerhouse team, according to CSKA. In a statement posted on her Facebook page, Zurabishvili called Shengelia's move "regrettable and unacceptable". But the Black Sea country's basketball federation expressed solidarity with Shengelia. "Tornike has always defended and will defend the honour and interests of his homeland and the national team," the federation said in a statement. Prior to the CSKA signing, the 28-year-old forward played for Spanish team Saski Baskonia. In 2018, he earned an All-EuroLeague First Team selection. Tbilisi and Moscow have been at loggerheads since Georgia regained its independence following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The confrontation over Georgia's bid to forge closer ties with the European Union and NATO culminated in a brief but bloody war in 2008. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have since remained severed. im/as/lp