Georgian PM alleges external calls for “second front” amid war in Ukraine

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said that there had been an explicit call for opening a second front amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, adding that Georgia had effectively been told to “fight from the forests if the country collapsed”, which, he noted, was even more serious, as the attitude was so harsh that Georgia had not even been allowed to ask questions.

Kobakhidze made his remarks in response to a question regarding the meeting between Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and the former US Ambassador Kelly Degnan.

He noted that the first meeting took place in the first half of February, the second at the end of February shortly after the start of the war, and the third in mid-March.

“Out of these three meetings, in two of them there was open talk about opening a second front. Among other things, such wording was used: when the question was asked - let’s say we cannot contain the aggression, what happens then - they directly told us that we should switch to partisan warfare. The discussion went into details of this kind. There was a direct, explicit call for opening a second front”, the PM said.

“I am telling you something even more severe - they told us: if the country collapses, then go and fight from the forest.This is even more serious. First, there was talk about opening a second front, and then it became even worse, with the suggestion that we should fight from the forests in a partisan war”, Kobakhidze noted.

He further added that there were some details discussed, many questions were asked, and there were questions they would not answer.

“For example, there was one question we asked five times - I will not specify it for security reasons, and all five times they answered with silence. They rudely demanded involvement. From their perspective, they would not even allow us to ask some questions. Their attitude was extremely rough”, he said.

“What Ms. Kelly Degnan used to do at these meetings was even worse than pounding the table with fists. She would have emotional outbursts. It was extremely difficult to see her at these meetings. She staged more than one such outburst. I am sure she did the same with Shalva Papuashvili as well. There were three meetings, and I attended one of them. In two out of the three, there was a direct call for opening a second front”, Kobakhidze concluded.

He emphasised that his Government could not disclose further details due to national interests and national security considerations.