Leaked recordings: Georgia sends protest note to Ukraine
Tweet 
Share
Tbilisi has officially sent a letter of protest to Ukrainian officials in Kiev denouncing the fact Georgia's ex-president and current Odessa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili encouraged an alleged coup in Georgia.
Yesterday Georgia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires Georgii Nazarov and handed him the protest letter in connection with the recently released audio recordings that encouraged violence in the country.
Georgia's Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Jalagania told the Ukrainian diplomat Tbilisi was "extremely dissatisfied” with Saakashvili’s remarks, which contained "calls posing a threat to security and stability in Georgia.”
"Such remarks represent interference in Georgia’s internal affairs, which is inadmissible and does not correspond the spirit of the friendly and partner relations existing between Georgia and Ukraine,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
The Georgian side expressed hope the Ukrainian side would react "appropriately” and no similar situation would reoccur.
On October 29 a Ukrainian website published the phone conversations between Georgia’s ex-president Saakashvili with leader of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) Giga Bokeria and director of private broadcasting TV company Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia.
Bokeria and Gvaramia confirmed the authenticity of the October 19 phone conversations, in which Saakashvili encouraged a potential "revolution" scenario if the court ruled in favour of former Rustavi 2 owner Qibar Khalvashi concerning the ongoing legal dispute between current and ex-shareholders of the private broadcaster.
On May 30, 2015 Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko appointed Saakashvili – who currently holds dual citizenship of Georgia and Ukraine - as head of Odessa region in southwestern Ukraine.
The ex-President is wanted by Georgia's law-enforcement bodies for several charges.
A top Georgian official has confirmed the country’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili will be deprived of his Georgian citizenship, as he now had Ukrainian citizenship.
Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili held a special briefing this afternoon about the recently released audio recordings that encouraged an alleged coup in Georgia.
The director of the private broadcasting company Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia and the leader of opposition party United National Movement (UNM) Giga Bokeria approved the authenticity and content of recorded audio phone conversations with Georgia’s ex-president Saakashvili, which was published today by Ukrainian website www.uareview.in.ua.
"As Prime Minister and as a citizen, I fully support any kind restoration of justice but in my opinion this is a controversy of two subjects which should go before judges at the court,” Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told local media.
Georgia’s State Security Service has addressed the Government of Ukraine today in connection to a phone conversation released last night that including threats of possible unrest and a coup in Georgia.
The United States (US) Embassy in Tbilisi says it is unacceptable for anyone to advocate for violence in politics.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili has sent a letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko regarding the recently released phone conversations of Odessa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, who was formerly the president of Georgia.
Georgia’s Constitutional Court has accepted an appeal from Tbilisi-based privately owned broadcasting company Rustavi 2 and ordered a temporary suspension of a normal clause in the country’s Civil Code after a challenge against the clause by Rustavi 2 lawyers.
Tbilisi City Court Judge Tamaz Urtmelidze delivered a verdict yesterday that temporarily deprived the Rustavi 2 current director Nika Gvaramia and financial director Kakha Damenia of their obligations.
A handful of members of the High Council of Justice of Georgia claim the judge leading the notorious Rustavi 2 ownership court case was repeatedly insulted, criticized and under serious pressure by local and foreign officials and figureheads during his time in court.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko is visiting Georgia next Monday, on July 17, with his family and a delegation composed of state figures and businesspeople.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is expected to arrive in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi later today with his family and a delegation composed of state figures and businesspeople.