Georgian PM accuses opposition-leaning TV channels of serving foreign agendas, seeking provocative headlines

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday said that declaring the Russian Federation an enemy would be a specific political statement requiring concrete follow-up steps, and accused opposition-leaning TV Pirveli and Formula of representing the collective United National Movement as party-affiliated media extensions of a foreign agent network.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze argued that such a declaration would necessitate actions similar to those taken by the United National Movement before and during 2008.

“You very simply want to get a headline, for example, even in the Russian media, saying that I declare the Russian Federation an enemy. This is a specific political statement that must then be followed by concrete steps”, he said.

“Approximately the same steps, or exactly the same steps, that your party took in 2008 and before 2008. You need to understand all of this well, and if you do, you will no longer ask such shameful questions. I explained it to you, but you did not understand. I know that you do not understand, and you are sincere about that. You have a problem with understanding. If you did not generally have a problem with understanding, you would not be journalists for the party-affiliated television stations of the United National Movement”, Kobakhidze continued.

The Prime Minister described Formula and TV Pirveli as part of a collective UNM structure and branches of a foreign agent network.

“You, both Formula and TV Pirveli, represent the collective United National Movement. You are a party-affiliated media extension of a foreign agency; accordingly, you represent the collective United National Movement and are a specific branch of a foreign agent network. I am not telling you personally that you are a foreign agent, but your television station is one of the branches of a foreign agent network. Accordingly, your position is shameful when you continue to serve the political party that committed a crime in 2008 and did everything to bring about what happened, and when you continue serving this party today. This is an extremely shameful development” ,Kobakhidze concluded.