President Kavelashvili: Gov’t must be ‘stricter’ toward citizens acting against state

Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili on Tuesday said the Government and state institutions should adopt a stricter approach toward citizens who, in his view, act against their own country by providing foreign partners with unverified or unsubstantiated claims.

He made the statement in response to a journalist’s question regarding a document reportedly sent by Tina Khidasheli, the head of Civic Idea NGO and former Defence Minister, to the US State Department, alleging that the Georgian Government is helping Iranian companies evade sanctions.

Kavelashvili said the state must uphold its responsibilities and respond firmly to such actions.

“Of course, this must be investigated and legal accountability must follow. Remember how many representatives of this radical wing were accusing their own country, claiming there were ‘black holes’ here and that something was being supplied to our northern neighbour. Later, representatives of the EU, the UK and the US came and dismissed all of this, praising Georgia instead for its transparency,” he said.

Kavelashvili argued that certain individuals continue to accuse the Georgian Government on foreign platforms without evidence, thereby misleading the international community.

“These people accuse their own Government and their own state on foreign soil and foreign television channels. It is essential that they face legal responsibility so they cannot act against the state with disinformation and mislead the international community through baseless rumors,” he stated.

He added that such accusations stem from political frustration.

“We know why this happens - they could not prove that we are somehow connected to the Russian government, they could not prove election fraud, they could not prove we have any ‘black holes’ and so on. A large part of our society understands this well. But the state must stand firm and respond to all such actions appropriately,” Kavelashvili said.