Georgia’s state security service has said it is investigating a plot to overthrow the government and assassinate former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.
However, an opposition leader dismissed the claim as a “conspiracy theory.”
The security service announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday that it was looking into what it said were criminal activities intended to “violently overthrow” the government and create unrest.
It said these activities included a plan to murder Ivanishvili, the country’s richest man, who founded the governing Georgian Dream party and served as prime minister from October 2012 to November 2013.
The 68-year-old billionaire, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, returned to the public eye this spring as a strong supporter of a contentious bill on “foreign agents.”
The bill, which requires organizations that receive over 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence,” prompted mass protests in the capital, Tbilisi, and threw the South Caucasus country into political chaos.
The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) did not name any suspects, but independent Caucasus news site OC-Media reported that at least six people had been summoned for questioning, citing a lawyer and two of the summoned individuals. According to OC-Media, most of those summoned had fought against Russia in Ukraine.
Reports of coup plan are absurd: opposition
Tinatin Bokuchava, leader of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party, said the alleged coup plot was an “absurd delusion and constant conspiracy theory” put forward by Ivanishvili before a parliamentary election due by October.
Bokuchava was quoted by Georgia’s Interpress news agency as saying that such reports were evidence of “Russian-style propaganda, what our Western partners call hybrid warfare,” intended to mislead the public and keep Georgian Dream in power.
The authorities have repeatedly accused Ukraine-based Georgians fighting against Russia of plotting a coup in Georgia. Tbilisi says it opposes Russia’s war but has not joined sanctions against Moscow over the conflict.
The security service announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday that it was looking into what it said were criminal activities intended to “violently overthrow” the government and create unrest.
It said these activities included a plan to murder Ivanishvili, the country’s richest man, who founded the governing Georgian Dream party and served as prime minister from October 2012 to November 2013.
The 68-year-old billionaire, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, returned to the public eye this spring as a strong supporter of a contentious bill on “foreign agents.”
The bill, which requires organizations that receive over 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence,” prompted mass protests in the capital, Tbilisi, and threw the South Caucasus country into political chaos.
The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) did not name any suspects, but independent Caucasus news site OC-Media reported that at least six people had been summoned for questioning, citing a lawyer and two of the summoned individuals. According to OC-Media, most of those summoned had fought against Russia in Ukraine.
Reports of coup plan are absurd: opposition
Tinatin Bokuchava, leader of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party, said the alleged coup plot was an “absurd delusion and constant conspiracy theory” put forward by Ivanishvili before a parliamentary election due by October.
Bokuchava was quoted by Georgia’s Interpress news agency as saying that such reports were evidence of “Russian-style propaganda, what our Western partners call hybrid warfare,” intended to mislead the public and keep Georgian Dream in power.
The authorities have repeatedly accused Ukraine-based Georgians fighting against Russia of plotting a coup in Georgia. Tbilisi says it opposes Russia’s war but has not joined sanctions against Moscow over the conflict.
Source: Reuters, TVP World
More In Politics MORE...
