“Any attempt” to overthrow Gov’t “will fail” - ruling party Sec-Gen

Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday said “any attempt” of Government overthrow from groups “both inside and outside the country” would “fail”, in reaction to comments by the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili on an alleged presence of a subversive group in the country with the goal.

Saakashvili on Monday told a Tbilisi City Court trial hearing in a case of embezzlement of state funds allegedly involving him an “armed, Russian subversive group” subordinated to the First Main Division of the Russian Army was in Georgia to “spark destabilisation”.

He called for a “civil defence hotline”, to be used by citizens to report “any anti-Georgian sentiments” from Russian citizens who had entered Georgia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

In his response, Kaladze said Saakashvili was “not interesting” as a source of the comments, but added the country’s State Security Service had warned about alleged attempts by former officials in the previous United National Movement Government to spark “provocations and unrest” this fall. 

Any such attempt will fail and will be responded to by lawful actions. The Government and relevant state agencies will ensure peace and economic development of the country”, he added. 

The SSS in September claimed it had uncovered a plan by former UNM officials to cause “civil unrest” and overthrow the country’s Government using a “Euromaidan scenario” 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.

The state body said it had been monitoring the group, which it said involved Giorgi Lortkipanidze, the former UNM Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and currently the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian military intelligence, Mikheil Baturin, a former member of the security detail of the former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and Mamuka Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian Legion fighting in the ongoing Ukraine war.