On March 11, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced new appointments to the Government Administration. According to the changes Giorgi Kajaia, the former head of the Georgian Interests Section at the Swiss Embassy in Russia, has been appointed as the PM’s Special Representative for Relations with Russia.
On the same day, Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili confirmed during the press conference that Mamuka Merkviladze is to succeed Kajaia as the Head of the Georgian Interests Section at the Embassy of Switzerland in the Russian Federation.
The journalist, in particular, inquired about Merkviladze’s alarming ties to Russia and what it would mean for Georgia to have “a member of Putin’s inner circle” representing Georgian interests. FM Darchiashvili replied: “Mr. Merkviladze is a very experienced person, and we are sure that he will fulfill the tasks assigned to him, and I am sure that his experience will help him… I don’t know what facts you are talking about. These are your assessments [to the journalist], interpretations”.
Merkviladze, a Georgian businessman with links to Russia, has kept a fairly low profile. Still, he is currently a shareholder in almost 30 different companies in Georgia. He shares his business with family members, friends, and the families of his friends. He is also the President of the National Shooting Federation, elected in January 2022.
In Russia, Merkviladze is best known for his wife, Tamriko Dudunia. Dudunia is a Russian singer of Georgian origin. Her family left Georgia when she was just two years old and moved to Russia’s western town of Smolensk, close to the Belarus border. She trained as a pediatrician but also sang professionally.
In 2019 she won the all-Russian singing contest sponsored by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, “New Star-2019”, which airs on the Russian Defense Ministry’s Zvezda (Star) TV channel. Dudunia was awarded the prize by Shoigu himself. Judging by her social media presence, where she is a medium-scale influencer with some 30,000 Instagram followers, Dudunia is residing in Russia. She is doing her advanced medical internship at the “Central State Medical Academy” subordinated to President Putin’s Administration.
Mamuka Merkviladze: Man of Useful Connections
Vice-President of the Georgian Diaspora in Russia
The information on Mamuka Merkviladze available from open sources is sketchy. It is known that since 2021 he has been the Vice-President of the Moscow-based diaspora organization Federal Georgian National-Cultural Autonomy.
He was one of the people who took part in the meeting of the diaspora leaders in October 2021, initiated by David Tsetskhladze, the President of this organization. At the meeting, it was decided to appeal the “the relevant government agencies” of Georgia and Russia with a request to resume direct flights and introduce a visa-free regime between Russia and Georgia. This indeed happened half a year later, which leads one to believe that the organization provided an official and public relations cover and a pretext to the Kremlin.
The appointment of Merkviladze as the Head of the Georgian Interests Section at the Embassy of Switzerland was also initially announced on the diaspora organization’s Telegram channel and welcomed by its President.
“Merkviladze promised that he would do everything possible to ensure that the Georgian government continues to hear the voice of the Georgian diaspora [in Russia]. He is intimately familiar with the life of Georgians in Russia. He was the vice president of the Federal Georgian National-Cultural Autonomy for several years. This step on the part of the Georgian government is very positive,” – posted Tsetskhladze on March 12.
Apart from having good connections in Russia, Merkviladze is also well-connected in Tbilisi, apparently through his erstwhile affiliation with Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and the honorary Chair of the ruling party. He is formally associated with at least three larger-scale infrastructural and one natural resources management initiative, all of which have been controversial.
Director of GR Logistics & Terminals
In 2017-2018, Merkviladze served first as the Deputy Director and later as the Director of GR Logistics & Terminals, a subsidiary of Georgian Railways He was appointed by his close friend and business partner, Davit Peradze, who serves as the Director of the Georgian Railway. Local anti-corruption watchdogs and media representatives have been calling on the government to investigate this nepotism case for years, to no avail.
Notably, Peradze is closely connected with the former Prime Minister of Georgia and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili. In 2007-2011 he worked in various positions in Ivanishvili’s Cartu Group, and in 2014-2017 he was the director of Mtkvari HES Ltd., a hydro-energy project established by Ivanishvili’s Co-Investment Fund. Ivanishvili appointed Peradze as the Director of the Georgian Railway at the end of 2017 to replace Mamuka Bakhtadze, who became the Prime Minister of Georgia and served from 2018 to 2019.
During Merkviladze’s time at GR Logistics, the media reported that the company leased 799 wagons worth USD 64 million to Russia. As a former employee of GR Logistics & Terminals, Nino Lomidze told Rustavi 2 in 2019 that the Georgian Railways had conspired to skip the public auction of these wagons, which were transferred to GR Logistics & Terminals by Peradze’s personal decision.
According to Lomidze, GR Logistics & Terminals later leased the wagons to the Russian Railway Invest Group at a higher-than-market price, but only 58% was paid into the company’s account. She also noted that Georgia took responsibility for paying for the repair of the wagons damaged in Russia and Kazakhstan. The Georgian Railways has denied these allegations.
Merkviladze’s Involvement in Building Multimodal Terminal in Poti
Merkviladze has been involved in strategically important transport infrastructure projects in Georgia. In 2023, Kazakhstan’s PTC Holding LLP signed a contract with Georgian partners, represented by Merkviladze, for the construction of a multimodal terminal in Poti, which was to ensure the transportation of 450,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) of cargo per year.
For the implementation of the project, a joint venture Poti Transterminal was established, in which the Georgian side and PTC Holding had equal shares of 50%. The investment value of the Georgian side is USD 10 million. The construction of the terminal was to be completed in 2023, but the works are still in progress.
The construction of the terminal is met with protests from the locals. On March 11 this year, residents of Poti blocked the road leading to the terminal, demanding an immediate halt to the project since they believed that the terminal would process hazardous waste and pose a threat to their health.
Owner of the Company Working on the Balda Canyon Project
In November 2022, the Georgian Agency for Protected Areas announced an auction of the 24,130 square meters of land surrounding the Balda Canyon in the municipality of Martvili (western Georgia region of Samegrelo). LLC Kanioni 350, registered three days before the announcement, was the only company that participated in the controversial auction and subsequently won the tender to build tourist infrastructure, including a visitor center, at least 350 meters of footpath and sidewalk, bridges, overlooks, and a 350-meter-long roller coaster, worth GEL 2.8 million (approx. USD 1.05 million).
Mamuka Merkviladze and his brother, Giorgi Merkviladze are the shareholders of the company LLC Kanioni 350 (Giorgi Merkviladze is also the director of the LLC). The locals of Martvili, who have had unimpeded access to the Balda Canyon all their lives, weren’t informed of the project until three months after the auction. They have been protesting against the project since October 2023, but many of the protesters have faced arbitrary administrative charges and a lack of response from the local government.
Social Justice Center (SJC), a watchdog, has called upon the state authorities to stop the work on the Balda Canyon, citing the illegal auction and the fact that “the company is carrying out the work carelessly, cutting down trees and plants, damaging the natural environment.”
“It is important that the state authorities strengthen the supervision of the ongoing work and assess the current situation in the canyon in order to prevent even greater environmental damage. In addition, since the decision to lease the canyon to a private company was made in violation of the law, it is necessary for the Ministry of Environmental Protection to stop the ongoing work in the Balda Canyon – until an agreement is reached with the local population and the issue is resolved legally,” – said SJC.
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