Ruling party MP accuses ex-Pres. Margvelashvili of “discrediting” armed forces

Vladimer Chachibaia, an MP of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday accused the country’s former President Giorgi Margvelashvili of “discrediting” the country’s armed forces with his comments that said the possibility of Georgian troops being sent to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine in the future was “realistic”.

• Opposition MP rebukes former President’s projection of Georgian troops helping Russia in Ukraine

Chachibaia, who previously served as the Chief of the Georgian Defence Forces between 2018-2020, responded to the comment by saying “perhaps it was a mistake for the country to have a person with such views as its Commander-in-Chief”. 

He also said he had been receiving phone calls from figures in the country’s Defence Forces, who he said were “outraged” by the former President’s claim of the hypothetical scenario.  

He [Margvelashvili] accused the state and the country’s Defence Forces of potential betrayal. What can be more insulting than to underestimate the merits of these people and question their loyalty to our state and international law?”, Chachibaia told the media. 

In his interview for the TV Pirveli channel on Wednesday, Margvelashvili, who served as the country’s fourth President between 2013-2018, criticised the current Government's foreign policy, claiming it was failing to provide support to Ukraine in its ongoing defence from the Russian invasion.  

Margvelashvili told the channel it seemed “realistic” to see a future scenario where the Government sent troops to join the Russian effort in the conflict.