Interior minister dismisses allegations of arrested former Security Service official, says “never” had “face-to-face meeting” with Russian FSB representatives

Georgia’s interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Thursday dismissed the allegations made by the currently imprisoned former deputy head of the country’s state security service, Soso (Ioseb) Gogashvili and said he had “never” had a “face-to-face meeting” with representatives of the Russian Federal Security Service in Belarus capital city of Minsk.

Gomelauri told the press he had attended the 100th anniversary of the creation of Belarus security service in Minsk, along with representatives from the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany, as well as Russia, but had never had a “face-to-face meeting” with FSB representatives and noted he had “no connection” with them. He also denied Gogashvili’s accusation as if he had been in the capital of North Ossetia, Vladikavkaz.

I met representatives of the services of Israel, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Armenia and other countries”, Gomelauri noted.

The interior minister also said if the parliamentary investigative commission was created, as demanded, based on Gogashvili's claims, by the representatives of the Georgian opposition,  he would answer the questions.