UNM’s Pavlenishvili: “Fifth column” blamed us for starting the 2008 war; we had to prove we weren’t xenophobic towards Russians

“Promoting this narrative right before the anniversary of the August war is purely something that benefits, and may well be incited by, the Kremlin,” stated Irakli Pavlenishvili, Deputy General Secretary of the United National Movement, when commenting on today’s statement by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.

According to Pavlenishvili, it is impossible for “complaints about Russophobia in occupied Georgia just days before August 7 to be mere coincidence.”

“This is yet another targeted mental and propagandistic special operation being waged against the Georgian people. They must accept that they cannot dull anti-occupation sentiments among the public. Even after the 2008 war, Russia’s status as an occupier was constantly highlighted.

Mikheil Saakashvili was the most unacceptable figure to them externally precisely because of his anti-Putin statements, and now they claim he was doing good things with Russia. This is absurd propaganda. The man is known worldwide as a fighter against Putin. Yet Kobakhidze and his henchmen, praised daily by Zakharova and Lavrov, claim this man was somehow collaborating with Russia.

When we speak of the situation after 2008, everyone remembers what happened. The Georgian government was doing everything humanly possible to maintain the non-recognition policy. The primary charge levelled against us, and the fifth column continues to spread this narrative today, was that starting the war was our fault. People like Kobakhidze were spreading this narrative. It was because of them that we were forced to prove we weren’t picking a fight with Russians, that we held no xenophobic attitude towards them, and that we weren’t looking for trouble, but were instead capable of welcoming tourists. That is the logic, and anyone who fails to see it is either blind or choosing to close their eyes,” declared Irakli Pavlenishvili.

For context, Chairman of Georgian Dream and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze wrote on social media: “it is telling to ask: why were they not instructed to promote Russophobia when the most compelling reason existed, namely, after the August 2008 war, and why have they been tasked with Russophobia now, when the victim of Russian aggression is not their formal motherland, but another, albeit friendly, nation?”