Ivanishvili claims US Ambassador requested a meeting with him which lasted for three hours

The founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, confirmed Wednesday that the US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan requested a meeting with him on March 21 of this year, which took place and lasted for three hours.

In the letter released early on Wednesday, Ivanishvili, who decided to leave Georgian politics for the second time in January of 2021, refrained from unveiling the details of the meeting, neither confirmed nor dismissed the suspicion of former MPs of the ruling party that “great forces wish to drag Georgia” into Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

However, Ivanishvili, who dismissed the allegations over his interference in Georgian politics, said that “some forces” were trying to draw Georgia into the war, praising the efforts of the current authorities to prevent “drastic consequences” for the county. 

He suggested that the forces were “still trying” to drag Georgia into the war, and that such risks would remain until the end of hostilities.

“Thus, both the government and the public should be extremely careful so that Georgia can finally avoid a fatal war,” Ivanishvili said. 

He suggested that his current problems with a Swiss bank, which delayed to transfer his 500million USD per the court’s judgment, was “directly linked” with Georgia. However, he noted that he had no plans to “make the problem public.” 

“The most important thing for me is that Georgia can finally get out of the most difficult situation properly and maintain peace, and I will take care of my personal issue myself and will not try to overburden the public with this problem,” he said. 

The ruling party top figures have suggested that the international community was exerting pressure on Ivanishvili to force him drag Georgia into Russia’s war in Ukraine.