Irakli Kobakhidze: Artificially Fueling Russophobia Means Provoking Your Own Country

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that neither Russophobia nor any other form of phobia is characteristic of the Georgian people, arguing that attempts to artificially fuel anti-Russian sentiment amount to provoking the country.

Speaking to journalists at the Mukhatgverdi military cemetery, Kobakhidze said Georgians were not Russophobic and claimed that such sentiments were being promoted by what he described as “foreign agents.”

“The Georgian people are not Russophobic. The Russophobes are foreign agents. There were three different campaigns. When they failed to drag Georgia into the war, they launched three separate Russophobic campaigns, all back in 2022,” Kobakhidze said.

According to the Prime Minister, the first campaign began immediately after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the second followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of mobilization, while the third took place during the 2022 tourist season.

“Each time, they reactivated these campaigns. The objective was to stage provocations. Neither Russophobia nor any other phobia is characteristic of the Georgian people, and when you deliberately try to fuel Russophobia in the country, it means you are provoking your own country,” he said.

Kobakhidze added that the government had effectively countered these campaigns, which he said helped preserve Georgia’s tourism sector.

“When a cruise ship arrived in Batumi carrying Russian tourists, you could not explain what the difference was between a tourist arriving by ship and one entering overland through Lars. You could not explain it, yet you still launched a campaign,” Kobakhidze said.