PM Garibashvili: Ivanishvili not behind any governmental decisions, he isn’t oligarch

The founder of the Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is not beyond any governmental decisions, including those related to the Russia-Ukraine war, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said Tuesday, responding to the opposition’s allegations and the European Commission recommendation on de-oligarchization.

“The Georgian Dream authorities are not making any operational or key decisions at the dictation of the former leader [Ivanishvili] who has retired from politics. In this situation, the authors of the campaign [referring to the opposition] must make it clear whom they mean when they talk about oligarchs and de-oligarchization,” Garibashvili said.

He stated that top government positions of the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, justice, finance and health were occupied by the individuals who had had “no touch” with Ivanishvili.

Garibashvili suggested that the “rules of the game left behind by Ivanishvili and the public experience are two factors that do not leave the political opponents any chance of success.”

He stated that accusations against Ivanishvili, that he is an oligarch who is running the county from the backstage, “are absolutely unfounded.”

The opposition suggested that “pro-Russian oligarch Ivanishvili” has been running the country since 2012, since his Georgian Dream coalition defeated the nine-year-rule of the United National Movement.

Ivanishvili, who holds Georgian and French citizenship and pledged to give up all his businesses in Russia until 2012 parliamentary elections, entered and left politics twice over the past 10 years, in 2021 for the last time.

One of the 12 recommendations of the European Commission for Georgia to receive the candidate status in December was moves for de-oligarchization.

The opposition said that the specific recommendation targeted Ivanishvili in the first place.