“Falsified” recordings released by those interested in “starting war” in Georgia - PM

Certain sources are releasing “falsified conversations” in order to cause “mislead the public” and achieve a starting of a war in Georgia, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Wednesday in response to a release of an alleged recording of a call between Russian businessman Vladimer Evtushenkov and former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili this week.

Commenting on the recording that was posted on Monday on YouTube, with the authenticity of the file not confirmed, the PM refused to offer comments on its contents.

I do not think the Prime Minister should comment on some incomprehensible recordings. Of course, it is absolutely incomprehensible whether it is an authentic conversation or not,” Garibashvili told reporters.

We understand very well that the main goal and idea of those spreading these secret, falsified conversations is to start a war in Georgia. They are desperate, trying to mislead the public [and] our international partners with something like this,” he concluded by saying.

The comments follow those by Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, on Tuesday, in which said “everything” indicated the released file was “not authentic”, and challenged the source of the release to prove otherwise.