KGB officer (1973–1993) Lieutenant-General Giorgadze held various posts with the security services of the
Soviet Georgia. From 1980 to 1981 he also took part in
combat operations in
Afghanistan as a member of the KGB "Cascade" task group in the city of
Kandahar. He has been awarded fifteen government decorations, including the "For Merit in Combat" medal and holds the title of "Honorary Officer of the KGB of the USSR".
Minister of State Security (1993–1995) During the 1992-1993
civil war between the adherents of the first Georgian president
Zviad Gamsakhurdia and his opponents, Igor Giorgadze sided with
Eduard Shevardnadze and in 1993, was appointed the country's Minister of State Security. During his ministerial tenure Giorgadze actively promoted working relations with the special services of Turkey, Russia, the United States and grew in considerable influence in the Georgian government.
Political downfall (1995) On 29 August 1995 there was an attempt on the life of the then president Shevardnadze, after which Giorgadze was removed from his post. On 4 September, Giorgadze left Georgia after giving a press conference where he announced his plans to move to Moscow. After leaving the country Giorgadze wrote an open letter to Shevardnadze where he called Shevardnadze's regime a "Mafia State". Soon after the letter the allegations implicating his involvement in the 29 August assassination attempt followed and warrants were sent to
Interpol for Giorgadze's arrest. In 1997 there was a trial called the "Trial of the Century" where those accused of involvement with the assassination attempt against Shevardnadze were tried. With 13 defendants and 365 witnesses the prosecution was unable to link Giorgadze to the terrorist act as neither the defendants nor witnesses testified against him. Claims against Giorgadze remain unproven yet the charges have not been dropped. Giorgadze himself has always denied any involvement with the assassination attempt and accused the Georgian government of political persecution.
Opposition in exile (1995–present) Following Giorgadze's exile, Giorgadze received support from
Paul Manafort's partner
Rick Davis,
Oleg Deripaska, and Deripaska's very close supporter
Nathaniel Rothchild. In the 2000s, Giorgadze again attempted to enter Georgia's political arena. In July 2001 the "Samshoblo" ("Motherland") All-Georgia Patriotic Alliance was officially registered in Tbilisi. The organization, comprising nine parties and popular movements, elected Giorgadze its chairman. In 2003 Giorgadze founded the political party "Samartlianoba" (Justice), and in 2005 he became the initiator of the political movement "Anti-Soros", an alliance of four opposition parties including Samartlianoba. The movement's name refers to the American billionaire
George Soros. The party advocated closer economic and political ties with the
Russian Federation and criticized the government for its pro-
NATO course. However, Giorgadze's party enjoyed minimal support in Georgia, and has been accused of being funded by the Russian security services. Despite being abroad, Giorgadze attempted to run for President of Georgia in the 2000 and 2004 elections, but on each occasion Georgia's Central Election Commission (CEC) refused to register him. In May 2006, Deputy
Prosecutor-General of Russia Vladimir Kolesnikov announced that Georgian terrorist suspect Igor Giorgadze would be given political asylum in Russia. In response, the Georgian Foreign Ministry protested to Russian ambassador
Vladimir Chkhikvishvili.
2006 Saakashvili's arrests On 6 September 2006 Georgian
police arrested over 30 members of the "Samartlianoba" party and its political groups in a round-up in the nation's capital
Tbilisi and elsewhere in the country. The arrested were accused of plotting to organize a violent coup against the government of President
Mikheil Saakashvili. Allegations also included receiving illegal funding from abroad and collaboration with the security services of a foreign country.
Georgian media quoted President Saakashvili as saying, "These people will receive what they deserve and their patrons and sponsors will see this. As far as I know hysteric attempts were underway [to plot a coup]. The
wine embargo [by Russia] has failed to bring results, military provocations as well; so this kind of things [plotting coup] has been left on their disposal, but these attempts will not harm us if we are consolidated." The defendants, among whom was Giorgadze's niece Maia Topuria, were convicted and sentenced from four to eight years of imprisonment. Topuria's American legal council decried the decision to close the courtroom. and urged the government of Georgia to stop the political persecutions against the defendants.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin noted Giorgadze's allegations. Putin thus effectively greenlighted
information war against Georgia and the
United States. In November 2018, an investigation by
BBC refuted Giorgadze's claims. In 2022,
Igor Kirillov, Commander of the
Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence of the Russian Armed Forces, suggested the Lugar laboratory was responsible for the incursion of mosquitos into Russia and invoked Giorgadze in his accusation. In February 2023, Giorgadze stated in an interview that he could not enter Russia until President Putin's approval because
Boris Yeltsin was on the side of pro-American Eduard Shevardnadze; he resided in
Serbia and the
Middle East until Putin's presidency. Giorgadze praised
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili for resisting the "dictate" of America and claimed that before Garibashvili, Georgia had actually been governed by the
Embassy of the United States. He labeled Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili as "
Satan" and called Ukraine's president
Volodymyr Zelenskyy "
Cocaine baron". Giorgadze claimed that
Ukraine has been committing "genocide" against ethnic
Russians since 2014 and that the "Satanic"
West supported "
Nazism". Giorgadze condemned the
Georgian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine as "fascists". He further claimed that if Garibashvili's independent policies continued, 70%-75% of Georgia's population would vote for joining the
Eurasian Union with Russia a year later. ==References==