“The radical opposition and their foreign backers truly believed that the coup attempt on October 4 could succeed,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated in an interview with GPB’s First Channel.

According to the Prime Minister, October 4 represented the last glimmer of hope for the radical opposition and their international benefactors.

“They genuinely held hope, based on our intelligence. The radical opposition and their foreign allies seriously believed that the coup attempt on October 4 could be successful, and that Salome Zourabichvili (the former president) might once again declare herself President from the Presidential Palace. This plan may sound far-fetched, but it was their intention; nobody is foolish enough to risk imprisonment without conviction, yet they had faith in it.

Everything that was planned, starting from November 28th, could have escalated into widespread violence. However, through proactive preventative measures, we managed to prevent it from unfolding, something that had been ongoing for five days previously, during which a larger-scale violence attempt persisted. It took five days to neutralise that situation, but this time, we succeeded in dismantling the coup within a single day,” he explained.

The Prime Minister elaborated that all key government buildings, including the presidential palace, were fortified in advance. As soon as the unrest began to escalate, the State Security Special Service and Special Task Force were promptly deployed and successfully repelled the attack on the presidential administration.

“Any individual can conduct a simple experiment: approach a sturdy iron gate or fence of similar size and apply the same force. You will see that such a fence can be broken. Yes, it can; the rest is just the speculation of desperate individuals.

Looking at the photograph shared by Salome Zourabichvili, everyone remembers that rally in December; no one was attempting to scale the fence back then. When you compare one situation to another, they should be comparable. Salome Zourabichvili’s stance is understandable. She was prepared to take control of the presidential palace when the violent group stormed the building. That is why she now finds herself in a position of justification,” he concluded.