PM Kobakhidze accuses ‘foreign agents’ of seeking US backing for 'radical' opposition

Georgian Prime Minister and chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream, Irakli Kobakhidze, has accused what he described as “foreign agents” of attempting to unite radical opposition groups and present themselves to Washington as a political alternative to the government.

Speaking at a briefing at the party’s central office on Friday, Kobakhidze said that, against the backdrop of British sanctions against Imedi and POSTV, a “foreign agent” had called on other radical forces to consolidate and offer their coalition to the West - specifically the United States - as an alternative to Georgian Dream. 

He added that the opposition party Lelo for Georgia would “inevitably join such a coalition,” arguing that it would find it difficult to distance itself from the process.

Kobakhidze said the statement was particularly notable given what he described as the openly declared foreign policy course of the current US administration, which he said was based on non-interference in the internal political affairs of other countries.

He claimed that, by order of Donald Trump, funds allegedly involved in financing revolutions - including USAID and National Endowment for Democracy - had been demonstratively shut down, alongside public accusations of covert interference in foreign political processes.

Kobakhidze also referred to statements by senior US political figures, including JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard, who he said had repeatedly underlined that the United States would no longer interfere in other countries’ political affairs.

“Since we know very well that the so-called opposition agents are fully aware of who their patrons are outside the country, the fact that a 99% united agent opposition is again offering its ‘services’ to the US, despite the declared policy of non-interference, raises additional questions for us,” Kobakhidze said.

He added that recent developments, including British sanctions, had further convinced the government that the European bureaucracy would struggle in the short or medium term to free itself from what he described as informal influence.

Regarding the United States, Kobakhidze said the Georgian authorities remained hopeful that Trump’s declared fight against the so-called “deep state” would end in victory.

“The best confirmation of this would be a change in the American administration’s attitude towards Georgia,” he said, describing Washington’s current “distanced position” as illogical given what he called shared values.

“A change in approach towards Georgia would confirm that the fight against the ‘deep state’ is not a superficial phenomenon or a rebranding of informal forces, but genuine and real. We remain optimistic. Everything will become clear in the near future,” Kobakhidze said.