Georgia’s ruling party Sec Gen urges British Embassy to disclose funding recipients in Georgia

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday responded to media inquiries regarding the summoning of a Georgian diplomat to the UK Foreign Office, stating that Georgia was not in conflict with Europe, Great Britain, or the United States.

Instead, he asserted, the country was “defending itself from the injustice coming from them”.

Kaladze criticised the British Embassy for not yet publishing a list of organisations it has funded in Georgia in recent years, calling their accusations that Georgia is “attacking” anyone “unimaginable”.

“We are not attacking anyone. How can Georgia fight Europe, Great Britain, or the States?! That's unimaginable. On the contrary, we are defending ourselves from the injustice coming from the European Union, including Great Britain”, the ruling party official said.

He further linked the current tensions to the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. He claimed that Georgia was “directly blackmailed in cabinets” to join the war, with calls for a “second front” coming from high-ranking officials and even representatives of Georgia's opposition spectrum

“Then they began to deny it, but the archives exist. Similarly, members of non-governmental organisations made the same statements. They came out and said that since the Georgian Government was not joining the sanctions, they would rather have bombs falling on the country. The Ukrainian Security Council urged us to get involved [in the war]”, he noted.

He addressed that everything that happened in the country in recent years - attempts to stage revolutions, coups, and societal division - was funded from abroad and everyone had their own interest in overthrowing the patriotically elected Government, but they failed.

“These sanctions are outdated. No one can intimidate anyone anymore with sanctions when it concerns your homeland and its interests. We have to defend our country and promote its interests amid this madness. Why are we in politics, why do people support us? First and foremost, I have to promote the interests of my people and country, not obey orders from abroad to join sanctions or prepare the army”, he concluded.