Giorgi Gakharia, Georgia’s former Prime Minister and chair of the For Georgia opposition party, claimed on Monday that Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, had sent a senior law enforcement official to the United States as his “own messenger, or postman” to gain insight into the potential actions of Washington towards him and Georgian Dream officials.

Gakharia alleged that this move followed the US’ recent sanctions on unspecified Georgian officials for adopting the controversial foreign influence transparency law, “demonstrating Ivanishvili’s fear”.

Labeling the decision as “wrong,” Gakharia criticized Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream authorities for their poor understanding of functional democracy and argued that they failed to recognize that the US approach to Georgia would not change regardless of who governed the country in the medium and long term.

He emphasized that the US had a “clear understanding” of the current situation in Georgia, which he claimed indicated that only the political elite, not the public sector as a whole, had an “uncertain orientation, pro-Russian, pro-Chinese, but anti-Western! Anti-Western! They have understood this absolutely clearly.”

Gakharia added that Washington saw the need to support the Georgian people in protecting their civilizational choices.

“Elections are the best opportunity for this support,” he said. “And third, critically important steps, messages, actions, and policies will be absolutely coordinated between the US, EU, and EU member states. This is qualitatively different. What the Georgian Dream has been able to do so far - talking to the Europeans, cursing the Americans, talking to the Americans, blaming everything on the Americans - they will not be able to do that anymore.”

He further alleged that the current political elites in Georgia were deliberately trying to create a "gray zone" where they could easily do business with China, Russia, Iran, or other countries, enriching themselves in the process.

Gakharia warned that the Georgian Dream authorities might attempt to prevent the presence of international observers at the October 26 general elections, which could further damage Georgia’s image and the current authorities. He stressed that “everything is possible” and urged government opponents to use all available means to protect the elections and encourage public participation to prevent election rigging.