Ex-Pres Saakashvili says Georgia lacks air defence and missile capabilities

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili on Monday said the country currently lacks key defence capabilities, including air defence systems and missile programmes.

Writing on social media, Saakashvili criticised the Government and its founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, saying the country’s weakened military capabilities have become particularly evident amid ongoing conflicts in the wider region.

Saakashvili recalled a meeting with Hollywood actor Richard Gere in New York following the Russian-Georgian war in 2008. According to him, the actor expressed strong concern about Russia’s attack on Georgia and suggested the country should give up weapons and reduce its army.

“What a major Hollywood star could not achieve was accomplished by Ivanishvili. This has become particularly evident against the backdrop of the war currently unfolding in the region,” Saakashvili wrote.

He claimed Georgia does not have air defence systems, ballistic missiles or cruise missiles.

“We have no air defence, although the United States under Barack Obama had agreed to provide it with my approval. But Ivanishvili came to power and refused it. We also do not have ballistic missiles, which we had agreed to jointly produce with Ukraine. Nor do we have cruise missiles, whose production had been planned at the Delta State Military Scientific-Technical Centre,” Saakashvili said.