PM says challenges Georgia faces stem from Gov’t’s refusal to “open second front or join war in Ukraine”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Sunday linked the challenges facing the country and figures like Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and Honorary Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, to the Government’s decision not to join the war in Ukraine and not to open a “second front” in the country.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted that all the problems related to Georgia and the Georgian Government had intensified following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022.

“We cannot start a war. The main reason for the difficulties that our state, including Bidzina Ivanishvili, face is that we did not join the war in February 2022 and did not open a second front. After that, the main difficulties began”, the PM claimed.

The Prime Minister criticised what he referred to as the Global War Party, suggesting that both international and local actors pressured Georgia to take a more aggressive stance.

“There are forces that we call the Global War Party, which in the United States are referred to as the backers of the deep state. These individuals actively demanded the opening of a second front in Georgia. Just as there is a deep state in the United States, we also have a smaller deep state in Georgia, which is represented by the collective United National Movement [opposition]”, Kobakhidze noted.

Kobakhidze emphasised Georgia’s independence in decision-making and the need to resist external and internal pressures to engage in conflict.

“This country must be freed from Georgia's deep state, exactly as Donald Trump announced it in the case of the deep state in the United States”, he concluded.