“NGOs never condemned calls of high-ranking government officials of Ukraine in relation with the second front-line. I am confident that had the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence existed back then, these organizations would have restrained themselves from the war propaganda to a greater extent and would not have put their donors in an awkward situation here again,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated on Wednesday.
According to Kobakhidze, “They should have condemned, if the second front-line was not in their interests. They never did! None of the statements called for Georgian turning into the second front-line.”
“NGOs openly joined the campaign of the second front-line in 2022. From the dawn of the war, in the very first days they were demanding sanctions to be introduced and to send volunteer fighters to Ukraine with an official consent of the Government of Georgia, which meant that the economy of the country would collapse. We would have had at least 10% economic decline in the very first year, which means that our economy would have lost several billion USD; during COVID we had minus 6.5%. Can you imagine what would result from an economic downfall in the magnitude of at least 10%? Collapse of the national economy! It was their goal. Second demand was to send voluntary fighters to Ukraine with the consent of the Government of Georgia. It would immediately mean the engagement of Georgia in the military conflict.
I remind you that concrete NGOs and respective parties demanded all these. Also, let me once again remind you of a notorious phrase of one of their leaders. I am quoting word by word: “Russia is losing the war in Ukraine. They lack resources there and will not be able to pursue military action in every direction. We should do everything to use this window of opportunity”. Now a leader of this very NGO is insolently speaking about Russian interests. These very people led to the entry of Russian tanks to Georgia in 2008 and these statements of theirs served the same goal in February-March 2022 and later,” Kobakhidze stated.
