Intelligence chief Izoria resigns, appointed ambassador
Levan Izoria will replace Elguja Khokrishvili as the country’s new ambassador to Germany.
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Head of the Georgian Intelligence Service and the Secretary of the National Security Council Levan Izoria has resigned, becoming the country’s new ambassador to Germany.
Izoria has dismissed media reports that the resignation is linked to the recently released video, recorded in 2014, depicting his brother’s dispute with a law enforcer.
Being the country’s new ambassador to Germany is a new challenge, honour and a big responsibility for me,” Izoria said, criticizing the opposition for calling the resignation “a demotion.”
Izoria, who was appointed as the head of the Intelligence Service in September 2019, previously served as the country's defence minister and as deputy interior minister and deputy head of the State Security Service.
Elguja Khokrishvili, Georgia's previous ambassador to Germany, was appointed on the position in 2017.
Speaking about the video involving his brother to POSTTV yesterday, Izoria dismissed the opposition’s accusations of “concealing a crime.”
He said that he learnt about the incident only after it ended and he “never forced law enforcers to release his brother.”
Izoria also said that Mayor Giorgi Dvalishvili, who detained his brother for hooliganism and disobeying the police in 2014, was promoted several times and “his [Dvalishvili’s] accusations of political prosecution [for detention of Izoria’s brother, Vakhtang Izoria] are invented.”
The United National Movement (UNM) opposition has accused current secretary of the National Security Council Levan Izoria and Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri of ‘concealing a crime’ which involved Izoria’s brother back in 2014, stating that current Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia ‘was also aware of the offence.’
Former Defence Minister of Georgia Levan Izoria, who currently chairs the state intelligence service, has been appointed as the new secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, the PM’s eight-member advisory body responsible for national security policy planning and coordination.
Georgian Defence Minister Levan Izoria has praised Georgia-US cooperation at the 16th Batumi International Conference adding more rotational military exercises with involvement of NATO countries are planned in Georgia. Izoria said that Georgia is preparing for another three-year cycle of cooperation to ‘increase Georgia’s self-defence capacity.’
Georgian Defence Minister Levan Izoria says that US-Georgia cooperation is at an all-time high, especially in the defence field, and “in the future we only welcome American bases in Georgia”, he told Voice of America.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that what he has seen in the recently released video, depicting the brother of former head of the Georgian Intelligence Service Levan Izoria fighting with a law enforcer, ‘is disgusting and his action [Izoaria’s brother, Vakhtang Izoria] has no justification.’
Gomelauri will have to fulfill the duties of both the interior minister and the secretary of the National Security Council starting today.
Georgia has new ambassadors to Great Britain, Germany and Greece, Georgian Foreign Ministry reported earlier today.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has appointed Shalva Lomidze as the Head of the Intelligence Service of Georgia.
Reform of the field of the security of critical infrastructure, the ongoing situation in the occupied territories, and review of a range of strategic draft documents pending approval were reviewed at the latest meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday.
Georgia’s Ambassador to Germany Levan Izoria on Friday said the Munich Security Conference would involve “high-level” meetings of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvil with officials and investors between Friday and Sunday.