Defence Ministry explains military hardware being transported after TikTok video

The press office of the Ministry of Defence of Georgia on Friday responded to a video posted on TikTok and Facebook on Friday by explaining the hardware shown being transported had been used for local defence drills. 

The Ministry said the hardware - including armoured infantry carriers and mobile artillery pieces - was from the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Georgian Defence Forces, and was being transported back to the unit’s base following the manoeuvres.

It also explained the Brigade had used the pieces in a “company-level field exercise” in southern Georgia’s Akhaltsikhe Municipality, before its return to the central city of Gori.

In further comments, the Ministry said it had released information on the drills on Thursday, and asked the public to refrain from sharing “videos of similar content” that “cause groundless panic in the public”.

The 30-second TikTok video showed the freight train transporting the hardware along a highway, with the author raising the question of the cause of the military pieces being moved.