Georgian Parliament official accuses NGOs, radical opposition of acting on ‘external orders’

Davit Matikashvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Procedural Issues and Rules, on Thursday accused Georgia’s “fifth column” and parts of the civil sector of pursuing an externally assigned agenda.

According to Matikashvili, the group he referred to as the “fifth column” includes a large part of the civil sector, wealthy non-governmental organisations and representatives of the “radical, proxy opposition”.

“We remember very well the false emotion that the fifth column in Georgia had”, Matikashvili said.

He claimed that these groups had not shown a similar reaction during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.

“When, in 2008, because of treacherous policies, 20% of Georgia’s territory was practically handed over to the occupier through a treacherous government, they did not have this reaction”, Matikashvili continued.

“We remember very well the path that the agents have taken since 2008 until today, but as soon as Russia invaded Ukraine for the second time, they began acting in a completely different way. The pretext and the goal of all this are clear - they are carrying out what they have been instructed to do”, he added.

Earlier, Levan Machavariani addressed the opposition, NGOs and activists in a social media post, accusing them of trying to create a perception that Georgia had not been supporting Ukraine.

“Representatives of the agents have been trying all these years to create the perception that we were not helping Ukraine. Not a single one of their representatives has ever mentioned that we joined all resolutions and international documents and sheltered up to 30,000 Ukrainian refugees - no country of our scale and capabilities has done as much”, Machavariani wrote.