Ukraine Monitor presents the latest news concerning internal and external matters of Ukraine – a unique country where the interests of the East and the West clash almost every day.
Date: 30 September 2023 Author: Grzegorz Kuczyński
Georgia’s Pro-Russian Authorities Accuse Ukraine of Plotting a Coup
Georgia has sided with Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. State authorities obstructed Georgian volunteers in Ukraine and criticized Ukrainian support for the imprisoned former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. In addition, Georgia boosted trade ties with Russia while opening borders to Russian citizens. State authorities also seek to begin impeachment proceedings against the country’s president, Salome Zourabichvili. A story of an alleged coup masterminded by Ukrainian sources to overthrow the Georgian government is also in line with this narrative.
The allegations from the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) claimed to have exposed a plan to organize a Georgian version of the 2014 Euromaidan mass protests in Ukraine. The SSG said Giorgi Lortkipanidze, the deputy chief of Ukraine’s military counterintelligence, was plotting “destabilization aimed at a violent overthrow of the government”. The official who used to be Georgia’s deputy interior minister at the time when Mikhail Saakashvili served as president. The security agency said Mikheil Baturin, a bodyguard of Georgia’s jailed ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili and a member of Saakashvili’s inner circle, Mamuka Mamulashvili, were also among the conspirators. The SSG said antigovernment protests were allegedly being planned for October and December 2023. The plot is believed to being carried out with the coordination and funding from Western states, according to a spokesperson for the SSG. The attack on Ukraine is an excuse for criticizing Western nations and consolidating pro-Russian and pro-Chinese efforts of the incumbent government in Georgia. The accusation had no basis, though. A spokesman of the Ukrainian foreign ministry denied in a Facebook post the claims recently made by Georgian security services. Georgia has been controlled by Bidzina Ivanishvili, one of the country’s richest men who built a fortune from Russian assets. The government has made a rapprochement with Russia while thwarting the state’s pro-Western ambitions. A part of this policy is throwing support to Moscow in its war with Ukraine. Georgia has pursued an anti-Ukrainian policy because Kyiv had welcomed many Georgian politicians who had fled to Ukraine, including Saakashvili and Mamulashvili.
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