Georgian Parliament official slams BBC film as “shameful”, politically motivated

Maia Bitadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Environment Protection and Natural Resources Committee, on Sunday strongly criticised a BBC film, calling it another “deeply shameful step” in what she described as a long-running campaign against Georgia.

In her interview with Imedi TV, Bitadze noted that the campaign was being carried out by forces that failed to use Georgia to achieve their own goals, further pointing out that those goals were well known - to turn Georgia into an additional resource aimed at “weakening Russia”.

She further added that the BBC’s actions were shameful from the standpoint of journalistic ethics and, at the same time, infuriating.

“The allegations made were extremely serious and grave and, naturally, will not be left without response on any platform. Accusing Georgia of using chemical weapons dating back to the First World War is, first of all, absurd. Secondly, when they speak about the use of chemical weapons and manipulate references to the Hague Court, it clearly indicates that this was another shameful and failed step in a campaign full of lies, which has already worn thin in the eyes of the Georgian public”, the Parliament official continued.

Bitadze concluded by emphasising that “depressed radicals” remaining in the country, supported by European bureaucracy, were fueling efforts aimed at forcibly overthrowing the Government.

The BBC published an investigative article claiming that the Georgian authorities deployed a chemical substance dating back to World War I during protests in 2024.

The Georgian Government rejected the allegations and announced legal proceedings against the BBC in international courts.