Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused opposition forces of orchestrating recent violent actions in Tbilisi, asserting that their aim was to destabilize Georgia. Speaking at a press conference, Kobakhidze dismissed the protests as illegitimate and claimed they were part of a broader strategy to challenge the country’s democratic institutions.
“Every violent group active in the last two days was backed by radical opposition forces. What we saw wasn’t a protest in the classic sense. There was no rally, they gathered and immediately began attacking police forces,” Kobakhidze said.
He alleged that opposition leaders were present but deliberately avoided public visibility to retain the trust of “genuine protesters,” calling this a calculated move. Referring to a report from the McCain Institute, he claimed it outlined a scenario in which ‘violent opposition groups would target democratic institutions’—a plan Kobakhidze insisted would fail, as similar attempts had in previous years.
The Prime Minister drew a comparison to Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan protests, warning of the consequences of such scenarios. “You know what the Maidan brought to Ukraine. Within five days, war broke out, and the country lost 20% of its territory. Ukraine’s economy collapsed; where it could have grown to half a trillion dollars, it instead shrank significantly,” he added.
Kobakhidze dismissed the possibility of a similar scenario in Georgia, stating: “Georgia in 2024 is not Ukraine in 2013. The ‘Maidan’ scenario will not succeed here.” He underscored that despite external attempts to provoke unrest, Georgia has already overcome multiple attempts at revolution over the past four years.
Kobakhidze concluded by affirming the government’s resolve to maintain stability and prevent any attempts to undermine the country’s sovereignty and democratic order.
