Georgian PM: BBC report not only false but cheap provocation orchestrated by foreign intelligence services

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said that the recent BBC report was not only false, but a cheap provocation orchestrated by foreign intelligence services.

Kobakhidze’s comments came after an article published by BBC on Monday alleging that the Georgian Dream Government used a World War I-era chemical agent during recent protests.

He said Georgia’s ill-wishers wanted to create a pretext to continue blackmailing the Georgian people and the Government elected by them.

“To dramatise the issue, the BBC spread false information, as if during the dispersal of the rally the Ministry of Internal Affairs had used the banned First World War-era substance Camite. The Georgian Interior Minister has already publicly confirmed that not only the Camite was not used during the dispersal, but the Ministry has never purchased this substance, including during the time of the United National Movement governance. Based on the information disseminated by the BBC, the State Security Service has launched an investigation, and the public will receive full information in the shortest time”, the PM said.

“It is clear that the BBC report is not only a falsification but a cheap provocation planned by foreign intelligence services that serves two goals. First, Georgia’s ill-wishers want to create a pretext for artificially reigniting an extinguished protest mood, and second, they want a pretext to continue blackmailing the Georgian people and the Government elected by them. This report will in no way serve these purposes”, Kobakhidze said.

He emphasised that the OSCE Ministerial and the next meeting of the European Commission are approaching, and informal leaders would attempt to cite the false information spread by the BBC in these documents.

“Certain politicians, including members of the European Parliament, are already preparing the ground for this with their usual false statements. This campaign reminds us of the one built on the fabricated narrative widely circulated by the European bureaucracy and international media concerning the alleged poisoning of Mikheil Saakashvili. As part of that campaign, the EU’s 27 ambassadors paid an official demarche visit to Georgia’s Justice Minister. Today, everyone knows that this campaign, like the BBC report, was based on falsehoods. Yet neither the European bureaucracy nor the relevant media outlets have taken responsibility for that shameful campaign”, Kobakhidze said.

“It is fundamentally important for us that the false information spread by the BBC does not go unanswered. Therefore, as already announced, alongside the ongoing investigation, we plan to appeal to both the British communications regulator and, if necessary, international justice mechanisms, so that the BBC is held properly accountable and retracts the false information disseminated with the handwriting of foreign intelligence services”, the PM concluded.