Ex-President behind conspiracy plan, says Interior Minister

Georgia’s former ruling United National Movement (UNM) party is working on a plan to create unrest and destabilise the country, the Interior Minister claims.

Interior Minister Aleksandre Tchikaidze made the bold accusation against his political opponents in an interview with Tbilisi-based Alia newspaper. Tchikaidze said UNM could be developing a plan to overthrow the Government and seize power, however he promised his agency would "never let it happen”.

Tchikaidze claimed he had information that Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who currently is wanted in Georgia, gave specific instructions to UNM members and leaders of several non-governmental organisations to intentionally cause disruption and form a negative atmosphere in society.

Since Saakashvili was unable to enter Georgia without being arrested, Minister Tchikaidze believed the instructions were issued at various meetings attended by the ex-president and his team members in Ukraine and Turkey.

The Interior Minister alleged the main topic of those meetings were not formal matters, as planned, but in reality the meetings were a place where Saakashvili could issue certain instructions on how to create chaos in the country.

Tchikaidze said in particular, Saakashvili gave a directive to create a well-organised 500-person group, which would be divided into several separate smaller mobile groups designed to cause problems in Georgia.

"They [were tasked to] act provocatively, including in front of police officers. They must create emergency situations, organise violent protests and strikes manipulated by different problems such as crime, social and economic issues, relations with Russia, internally displaced people’s (IDP) problems. Their goal is to form a negative atmosphere in society as well as in foreign media and diplomatic community," Tchikaidze claimed.

He said UNM also intended to involved minority groups in their plan.

"According to our information, there might exist a plan to seize state power. A criminal case has been brought before the court [and] I cannot provide further details because of interests of the investigation," the Minister said in the interview.

The Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers supported the Interior Minister and said he would only make such allegations if he had the grounds to support his claims.

"Saakashvili is generally known as a destructor,” PM Irakli Garibashvili said.

"I want to tell everyone that anyone’s attempt to create destabilization will end badly for them. The state will be intolerant towards all those who will dare to make any kind of destructive action. Our nation has a stable period. We do not have time for destructors. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will take care of it," he said.

UNM assessed the Minister’s accusations as "inadequate”. In response to Tchikaidze’s statement, one of the ex-ruling party members Sergo Ratiani said the Interior Minister was tasked by the Prime Minister to act against UNM.