Georgia says no Russian militants linked with Wagner paramilitary group are in Georgia

The Georgian State Security Service says that the Mtavari Arkhi channel has spread false information on the  presence of a Russian citizen linked with the country’s private paramilitary organisation Wagner on Georgian territory. 

The agency also said that the information on the presence of the local organisation linked with Wagner or Georgian members of the paramilitary group was also incorrect and served the goal to discredit the State Security Service. 

SSS said that the Russian citizens connected with Wagner have not been detected at Georgian borders over past several years, while alleged Georgian citizens linked with Wagner named by Mtavari TV have not crossed into the Tbilisi-controlled territory from the country’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region over the past 10 years. 

The Wagner group is believed to be controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally and a former cook of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The contractors of Wagner have been identified during conflicts in Syria, Belarus or Ukraine, taking the interests of the Russian government.