Georgian PM says probe debunks allegations of banned chemical use by Interior Ministry

For five days, the public has witnessed a pre-planned campaign by foreign intelligence services aimed at undermining Georgia’s stability and damaging the country’s reputation, the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Saturday said during a briefing at the Government Administration.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted that this “anti-Georgian campaign” involved what he described as well-known “odious actors” both inside and outside the country.

“Domestically, the usual suspects - foreign-linked radicals from political parties, media outlets, NGOs, and various political activists - actively joined the campaign”, the Prime Minister said in reference to a recent report by BBC, which claimed that the Georgian authorities deployed a chemical substance dating back to World War I during protests in 2024.

He added that a recent report by a British broadcaster, which he characterised as being based entirely on “fabricated assumptions and invented stories”, was used as a pretext by politically motivated groups to launch a “new hybrid war” against Georgia and its people, stirring artificial outrage both locally and internationally.

Kobakhidze claimed that the report in question included multiple false allegations, including the most sensitive one - the supposed use of a banned chemical agent known as Camite.

He said that investigations had “conclusively established” that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had never used or imported such a substance.

“Furthermore, the investigation confirmed that during the dispersal of violent protesters last year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not use camite or any other prohibited substance”, the PM concluded.