Alleged plot to assassinate billionaire founder of Georgia’s ruling party revealed

The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) announced on Wednesday that it had uncovered a plot to assassinate Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the man widely understood to hold the reins of power in the country.

A terrorist act aimed at overthrowing the government was being investigated, the SSSG said, adding that the attempt on Ivanishvili’s life had been organised and financed by former high-ranking Georgian government officials and law enforcement officers from Ukraine.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze blamed the same “global political forces” that made attempts on the lives of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and former US President Donald Trump for plotting to kill Ivanishvili.

Mamuka Mamulashvili, the head of the Georgian Legion, which fights alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told independent outlet The Insider on Sunday that about 300 of his fighters were now wanted in connection with the alleged assassination in Georgia.

“This was done so the Georgian government had grounds to arrest us. The Russian and Georgian secret services now work hand-in-hand. Many of our guys who’d returned to Georgia were advised by the Georgian secret services to leave,” Mamulashvili said.

Since Georgia was granted European Union candidate status in 2023, the ruling Georgian Dream party has increasingly sought to align the country with Russia, aping the Kremlin’s notorious legislation on “foreign agents”, and introducing a slew of anti-LGBT measures, moves which led the EU to suspend Georgia’s accession process earlier this month.

The Georgian Dream party was also instrumental in the jailing of controversial former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who left Georgia after leaving office in 2013, but later returned and was tried on charges many believe to have been politically motivated in 2021.