It’s not just the ongoing protests and the regime’s repression that are dominating television and the news. When a businessman and well-known long-time supporter of the Georgian Dream makes dramatic allegations against the regime, the question is raised: is this a real defector from the eccentric oligarch’s inner circle, or is the veteran of Russia’s smoke-and-mirrors media scene playing with the public, trying to distract them with intrigues that are nothing more than a smokescreen?
Inevitable Arrest
Giorgi Chikvaidze’s arrest on 11 March came as no surprise, as the businessman had confidently predicted just a day earlier that he would be behind bars within 24 hours, after learning that his court hearing had been unexpectedly brought forward from 25 March.
Accused of embezzling a large sum of money, Chikvaidze was initially ordered to pay bail in the amount of GEL 50,000. But Judge Iza Kelenjeridze, who he said is a prominent member of the so-called “judicial clan” and predicted that she would obediently grant the prosecutor’s request, instead changed the bail to pre-trial detention. Chikvaidze, 38, was taken from the courtroom to prison.
For three days before his arrest, he posted a series of photos and videos on his social media, claiming that state security agents were tailing his every step, 24/7. He claimed to have identified a total of “80 cars and 110 people.” Earlier, he also said that his mobile phone had been hacked and tracked down to the last app.
The Last Interview Before Arrest
On the eve of his arrest, Giorgi Chikvaidze gave an interview to the opposition-leaning Formula TV, which was published after his imprisonment. In it, he told some compelling stories about Bidzina Ivanishvili’s alleged relations with Russian intelligence, but withheld more serious matters that he said would serve as his card for his safety, revealing them only if his life was threatened in prison.
- Oleg Deripaska’s Sanctioned Yacht
Giorgi Chikvaidze recalled that he was asked to help Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska avoid the seizure of his sanctioned yacht. Chikvaidze, who owns a yacht business, said he was told to forge documents to replace the the Russian billionaire’s yacht’s offshore flag with a Georgian one while it was stuck in Turkey’s neutral waters, temporarily shielding it from confiscation. He argued that the Georgian naval flag “would allow them to enter Georgian waters, avoid confiscation and then sail to Sochi” [a Russian city on the Black Sea coast north of occupied Abkhazia]. Chikvaidze said he refused to carry out the task. “It was the first refusal, ” he said which marked his falling-out with the ruling party.
- Andrei Krushanov – Bidzina Ivanishvili’s “Mentor”
The businessman then named Andrei Krushanov, who he said is a Russian intelligence operative and whom he describes as Bidzina Ivanishvili’s “mentor.” He said he first got to know Krushanov and his family when Ivanishvili gifted them a yacht through him. Chikvaidze claimed that Krushanov and his wife, who “practices shamanism” and “serves Bidzina Ivanishvili and his spells,” have been living in Georgia for the past eight months. “As far as I know, they are leading all these ongoing processes pushing the country in an anti-European direction,” he said.
The interview then plays an audio recording in which, according to Chikvaidze, Andrei Krushanov can be heard rebuking a senior Georgian official—whom he believes to be either Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri or State Security Service chief Grigol Liluashvili. Chikvaidze claims Krushanov was expressing frustration over the official’s failure to prevent footage of his family crossing the Georgian border and his wife receiving Georgian citizenship, from being exposed in a journalistic investigation by a Georgian television station.
- Russian Special Services in Georgia
“Everywhere!” Chikvaidze firmly told the journalist when asked how deeply Russian special services are embedded in Georgia. “In fact, as of now they have 100 percent subordination and access,” he added.
He said the process began after Bidzina Ivanishvili came to power in 2012, “but in the last two years, they have moved into the active phase of this special operation, which has been followed by a series of events that constitute the reality we live in today,” Chikvaidze said.
- Unpublished levers
Chikvaidze insisted he has more to reveal. He said he possesses “two or three” pieces of information “that they are particularly concerned about.” He described this evidence of audio recordings and documents as “credible enough,” adding, “They can’t even imagine how I could get them…They don’t have the exact information. They have doubts about what that [information] could be.”
“The recordings are about our country, what we are witnessing today, which they knew a long time ago, with all the details of what would develop and how. The recordings are also about the offshore law, which they were discussing a year before it came to light,” he said, adding, “Everything that is happening today will come to light.” This information, he said, relates to Bidzina Ivanishvili and Russian intelligence agents.
Pressed on why he does not reveal all, which could be a great blow to his subjects, Chikvaidze said he wants to have a “secret card” for his safety in prison. “I don’t know what they will do to me in prison…I don’t want to be the first victim, and just as it happens under Vladimir Putin, to not be able to get out of prison [alive],” Chikvaidze said, adding that he has heard of threats against his life. “If things go so far as to threaten my life, in the next hour this information will be published first abroad and then in Georgia,” Chikvaidze said.
“This regime is not like any other…This is a completely new, hybrid, Russian approach. They have considered all possible scenarios of how to deal with people like me, and they have tested them well over time. Therefore, you should not play with these people without having [at least] one hidden card,” he said.
Although Chikvaidze left the intrigue for the wider public, he said that Georgia’s international partners had already been provided with the information. “These materials have already done their work outside Georgia,” Chikvaidze said, claiming that his information has been put to use when prompting some Western countries to sanction Georgian officials. “I think we will have some more interesting developments from the international space very soon,” he added.
- Life Threat
Giorgi Chikvaidze claims that he may be killed. He stated that he has sources within the system who have alerted him to the GD government’s plans regarding him. He described “super-omnipotent criminal authorities” within the system, claiming that they “have the right to do anything.” Among other things, Chikvaidze added, their influence extends to the prosecutor’s office.
- Anticipating prison life
As the interview was recorded on the eve of his arrest, which Chikvaidze anticipated with great confidence, he stood firm, vowing not to break under any pressure that might be brought to bear against him behind bars. “But if a miracle happens and you see a radical metamorphosis of me, you should know that it’s not me,” he said, on the verge of tears.
“Tomorrow, at 11 a.m., they will arrest me, and that will be the end of the first stage of this struggle,” Chikvaidze concluded. He was arrested the next morning.
Former GD Supporter…
Giorgi Chikvaidze was once an open supporter of the Georgian Dream, which is why, for better or worse, raises trust issues for others. This was also evident during his last interview, when the soon-to-be-imprisoned man was asked to clarify some details about his past ties to the ruling party.
“I have never donated a single lari to them, and I have never won a tender in my life,” he said, adding, “I have never, never been a supporter of this government for the sake of any benefit.” The only benefit he claimed to have received was during the Covid pandemic, when, he recalled, the deputy chief of the State Security Service used his position to help him bring the yacht to Georgia.
But beyond what he said in the interview, there are multiple instances of his fervent past support to the Georgian Dream.
- September 13, 2017: He expressed his support for Kakha Kaladze, then a candidate for mayor of Tbilisi, on the air of TV Pirveli. He also said, “I do not understand how one could compare the repression against people during the previous regime with life today.”
- October 29, 2020: He said he would vote for Georgian Dream in the parliamentary elections and called on others to do the same.
- November 21, 2020: He voted for Georgian Dream in the second round of parliamentary elections, posting a photo of his ballot on social media.
- April 8, 2021: Bidzina Ivanishvili’s wife Ekaterine Khvedelidze bought a yacht from him, paying GEL 1.6 million.
- April 17, 2021: He notified the Georgian State Security Service that he has successfully brought allegedly banned unknown substances belonging reportedly to Bidzina Ivanishvili to Montenegro.
- 2021: He wrote to Julia Krushanova, the wife of Russian intelligence agent Andrei Krushanov, to arrange for the transportation of a yacht from Ekaterina Khvedelidze, Ivanishvili’s wife, to her.
- September 2, 2021: He published a photo with the mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, and wrote: “The very cool mayor of our city.”
- October 27, 2021: He shared the videos of the Georgian Dream rally and Kakha Kaladze on social media, expressing support for the party in the local elections.
- August 13, 2022: He contacted the State Security agent Zura Kanchaveli with a request to shut down the cement plant near his house. The plant was shut down the next day.
- February 2023: He contacted the State Security Service again to help him do away with the tax inspection. The request was soon granted.
Just a few months after the prosecutor filed charges against him in early 2024, Giorgi Chikvaidze openly defected from Georgian Dream, labeling its government as a “Russian slave.”
…Now Regime Challenger?
In another interview with TV Pirveli in September 2024, Giorgi Chikvaidze said that in 2022 he had been ordered to carry out a “very anti-state” task, which he had refused to do. At the time, he did not disclose the details, but mentioned that his refusal marked the beginning of the eventual rupture in his previously good relations with the GD. This task was likely the same one he referred to in his recent interview with Formula TV, related to avoiding the seizure of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s sanctioned yacht.
In his interview with TV Pirveli, Giorgi Chikvaidze recalled that shortly after he refused to carry out the “anti-state” task, businessman Elguja Turmanidze got in touch with him. Turmanidze, who had requested the import of a yacht from Spain and made a contract with Chikvaidze’s company, allegedly attempted to influence him to try drugs on several occasions. According to Chikvaidze, Turmanidze also eventually offered him an opportunity to become involved in money laundering schemes, assuring his safety by claiming to have patronage from Bidzina Ivanishvili’s brother, Aleksandre Ivanishvili.
Chikvaidze said he refused both drugs and money laundering, viewing them as attempts by Elguja Turmanidze to gain his trust and eventually racketeer his business. As a result, he said, his company terminated the contract for the yacht transfer and promised a refund within a set timeframe.
But the prosecutor soon charged him with money laundering in the case, saying that Giorgi Chikvaidze and his business partner Irakli Papiashvili had defrauded Elguya Turmanidze.
The court set had bail at GEL 50,000 and banned both Chikvaidze and Papiashvili from leaving the country. But in the latest ruling on March 11, the court changed Chikvaidze’s bail to arrest. The prosecutor claimed that the businessman had tried to illegally cross the state border with Azerbaijan.
While there are many controversial details surrounding the businessman’s story, yesterday, March 12, he announced with a letter from prison that he had gone on hunger strike.
Also Read:
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)