Parliament Speaker alleges Deputy Head of Ukrainian military intelligence “exposed again” in “organising unrest” in Georgia
Speaker Papuashvili alleged Ukraine had “become a shelter for Georgian criminals in high positions”. Photo: Shalva Papuashvili’s Facebook
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Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday said Giorgi Lortkipanidze, the country’s former Deputy Interior Minister under the United National Movement Government who currently serves as the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian military intelligence, had been “exposed for the second time” in “organising an unrest” in Georgia.
The official’s comment came following a statement by the Georgian State Security Service earlier during the day, which said it had uncovered a plan by former officials of the UNM authorities to cause “civil unrest” and overthrow the country’s Government using a “Euromaidan scenario” this fall.
Along with Lortkipanidze, who in 2021 was charged in Tbilisi for helping former President Mikheil Saakashvili illegally cross the border from Ukraine to Georgia, the body said it had identified Mikheil Baturin, a former member of the security detail of Saakashvili and Mamuka Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian Legion fighting in the ongoing Ukraine war, behind the alleged scheme.
Lortkipanidze, who is Georgian by origin, but non-Georgian in his soul and heart, is trying to change the situation in the country. He has been exposed for the second time in organising conspiracies against Georgia”, Papuashvili said, and alleged Ukraine had “become a shelter for Georgian criminals in high positions”.
Papuashvili also slammed unspecified representatives of the domestic opposition for questioning the Security Service’s investigation while “trusting and cooperating” with intelligence agencies “of a foreign state”.
He claimed it was “obvious” even without the latest investigation that a part of the domestic opposition and non-governmental organisations were “engaged in anti-state actions targeted against Georgia’s European integration” and were “staging confrontations” to “overthrow the current Government”.
Citing the Service on its plans to communicate with counterparts of partner states over the issue, Papuashvili noted “of course, we expect help from our partner countries so that such destructive ideas and revolutionary plans are not implemented here”.
In its comments on Monday, the Security Service claimed the group planned to stage their plans between October and December of this year, through use of public fallout of the potentially negative decision by the European Union bodies on granting Georgia the bloc’s membership candidate status, with the ultimate goal of changing the Government by “violent means”.
The Georgian State Security Service on Monday claimed it had uncovered a plan by former officials of the previous United National Movement Government who were aiming to cause “civil unrest” and overthrow the country’s Government using a “Euromaidan scenario” this fall.
The Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday called on Ukrainian authorities to hand Zurab Adeishvili, the wanted former Prosecutor General and Justice Minister of Georgia, and Gia Lortkipanidze, the wanted former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, over to Georgia in response to comments by a Ukrainian official on domestic Georgian politics.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, on Monday condemned comments by David Arakhamia, a member of the ruling People's Servant party in the Ukrainian Rada, on Georgia’s domestic politics as a “violation and interference in the internal affairs” of the country.
Former deputy interior minister under the United National Movement government Giorgi Lortkipanidze has been charged for helping former president Mikheil Saakashvili cross the border from Ukraine to Georgia illegally at the end of September of this year. The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says that Lortkipanidze was aware of Saakashvili’s plans to return to Georgia ahead of October 2 municipal elections, and he offered suggestions about how this could be done.
Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said the Government would “protect the country and its citizens” from alleged efforts by a part of the domestic opposition to “bring a disorder into the country”.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said the “strategic core” of Georgian-Ukrainian relations should be “freed from political conjuncture for the sake of the future” of the friendship between the two countries.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday said his Government would “not allow any non-entities and enemies inside or outside the country” to “bring about any type of disturbance”, following a report by the State Security Service about an alleged plot for the overthrow of the Government.
The Georgian State Security Service on Monday claimed “top managerial representatives” from the Belgrade-based Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies had been invited to Georgia by the East-West Management Institute of the United States Agency for International Development programme last month to “train domestic civil groups and individuals for a planned unrest” in Tbilisi this fall.
Iraikli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said Georgia was a “sovereign, independent” state where the Government would ensure “peace and tranquillity” and “not allow either a revolution or [an opening of] a second front [amid the war in Ukraine]”.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday urged the United States Agency for International Development to respond to allegations by the country’s State Security Service that said the Agency’s East-West Management Institute had funded trainings in Tbilisi last month for causing “unrest” in the country this fall.