Georgian Parliament Speaker cites audio allegedly between Ivanishvili, Russian oligarch “fake, disinformation”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has responded to audio recording released on YouTube yesterday allegedly between the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili and Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov “on evading  sanctions,” stating that the audio “is fake and disinformation.” 

Papuashvili said that the audio recording which was released by an unidentified user under the name -Cyber Krama “is obviously non-authentical,” and that the “disinformation campaign aims to drag the country into the Russia-Ukraine war.” 

The parliament speaker has accused the United National Movement opposition party, their affiliated TV channels and politicians of spreading the “disinformation.” 

“This is a stated goal (of the United National Movement) to change the government in an undemocratic way, and then to drag the country into the war,” Papuashvili said.

Davit Arakhamia, the chairman of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People’s party who is of Georgian origin, called on the West yesterday, following the release of the audio recording, to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili, dubbing the latter as an “oligarch who is aiding Russia circumvent international sanctions.” 

The recording was posted on YouTube earlier yesterday, entitled “secret emissary from Moscow arrives in Tbilisi.” 

The user said that the Russian oligarch made two calls to Ivanishvili in March to circumvent sanctions which was imposed on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, and sent his man to Tbilisi “for business,” claiming that Ivanishvili sent the man to Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.