Ruling party officials: Ivanishvili “under pressure” to “drag Georgia” into Russia-Ukraine conflict

Ruling party officials: Ivanishvili “under pressure” to “drag Georgia” into Russia-Ukraine conflict

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and Kakha Kaladze, the secretary general of the party, on Thursday claimed the founder of the GD, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, had been under “de facto” sanctions since the launch of the Russia-Ukraine conflict last year to “drag Georgia” in the war. 

 

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko announced earlier this week he had appealed to his country’s authorities to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili as a “Russian spy”, claiming the former Georgian PM was running the country “from the backstage” and heading Georgia to Russia. 

 

The ruling party officials claimed Ivanishvili had been suppressed by unidentified forces to “drag Georgia” into the conflict, but claimed the “blackmail” would be “in vain” as Ivanishvili was a “devoted patriot of his country and philanthropist”. 

 

“Ivanishvili will never accept the destruction of his country. They are directly asking for a second front in Georgia, the secretary of the Security Council of Ukraine, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, on the other hand they are trying to use a blackmail tool”, Kobakhidze said. 

 

For his part, Kaladze said the “attacks and the injustice that is happening to this person [Ivanishvili] today are caused by only one reason - they cannot forgive two things - patriotism and love for the people”. 

 

The lawmakers affiliated with the ruling party have several times accused the west of taking actions to “drag Georgia into the war”, with the part of domestic opposition saying the current government has been engaged in “demonization” of the west to “push Georgia back to Russia”.





Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and Kakha Kaladze, the secretary general of the party, on Thursday claimed the founder of the GD, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, had been under “de facto” sanctions since the launch of the Russia-Ukraine conflict last year to “drag Georgia” in the war. 

 

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko announced earlier this week he had appealed to his country’s authorities to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili as a “Russian spy”, claiming the former Georgian PM was running the country “from the backstage” and heading Georgia to Russia. 

 

The ruling party officials claimed Ivanishvili had been suppressed by unidentified forces to “drag Georgia” into the conflict, but claimed the “blackmail” would be “in vain” as Ivanishvili was a “devoted patriot of his country and philanthropist”. 

 

“Ivanishvili will never accept the destruction of his country. They are directly asking for a second front in Georgia, the secretary of the Security Council of Ukraine, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, on the other hand they are trying to use a blackmail tool”, Kobakhidze said. 

 

For his part, Kaladze said the “attacks and the injustice that is happening to this person [Ivanishvili] today are caused by only one reason - they cannot forgive two things - patriotism and love for the people”. 

 

The lawmakers affiliated with the ruling party have several times accused the west of taking actions to “drag Georgia into the war”, with the part of domestic opposition saying the current government has been engaged in “demonization” of the west to “push Georgia back to Russia”.