Georgian Dream Strongmen Double Down on Deep State Conspiracy Narrative

The ruling party Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili spoke on March 13 on two separate pro-government channels, TV Imedi and Rustavi 2, respectively, drumming up the infamous “deep state” conspiracy into the public narrative. The intensification of Georgian Dream’s (GD) “deep state” or “Global War Party” messaging, which claims to have “shared values” with U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration, comes amidst an all-time low in US-Georgia relations and the latter’s growing international isolation.

Irakli Kobakhidze at TV Imedi

After concluding his series of official visits to Central Asian countries, GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze sat down with the main government mouthpiece, TV Imedi, and began by hammering home the point that peace efforts and the weakening of the “deep state” are intertwined.

“Establishing peace in our region and weakening the “deep state” are directly related,” he said, adding, “The more President Trump’s administration can weaken the “deep state,” the faster peace will be established in our region.”

But, the GD Prime Minister claimed, “the representatives of the “deep state” in Europe are crudely and directly contradicting the peace efforts.”

The “deep state” or the “Global War Party,” as GD now uses the two terms interchangeably, Kobakhidze said, “is a very powerful force,” about which, he added, “Georgia must remain cautious.”

“They have very serious resources, including financial resources, and after the war in Ukraine started, this force has become even richer by at least tens of billions of dollars,” he claimed, adding: “Of course, under such circumstances, the fight against the “deep state,” the “Global War Party,” will be very difficult.”

Speaking of the “deep state,” Kobakhidze drew a line between the U.S. and the EU, saying that the former “has a better perspective” for defeating it. As for the EU, he claimed that only two countries – most likely alluding to GD government allies Hungary and Slovakia – remain unaffected by the “deep state,” while others, referring to the GD’s staunch critics in the Baltic and Scandinavian states, are under the “total influence” of the “Global War Party.” He added, “The Baltic states are beyond all red flags.”

Kobakhidze reiterated the GD’s oft-repeated accusations against the West, claiming that Georgia was pressured to be dragged into the war and that the West was trying to open a “second front” in the country. He claimed that the GD government had been subjected to pressure, blackmail and demands on various issues related to the war in Ukraine, including joining Western sanctions against Russia and sending Georgian volunteer fighters to Ukraine.

He continued with another claim, alleging that the granting of EU candidate status to Georgia was being used as another level of blackmail against Georgia. “For the Global War Party, everything related to the EU is a level of blackmail,” he said, adding that this logic applies to both – the EU candidate status and accession talks’ issues. “The country cannot be under constant pressure,” he stressed, trying to justify the GD’s infamous decision last November to abandon EU accession efforts.

He went on to apply the “deep state” conspiracy in the context of civil society organizations, which he said the Trump administration had “confirmed” were disrupting countries. With Trump’s executive order halting much of the USAID’s funding around the world, Kobakhidze said, “the “deep state” can easily rearrange the funding sources and funding mechanisms.”

“When it comes to the financing of NGOs and revolutionary interests in Georgia, we also see the same attempt at rearrangement that we must confront with the Transprancy Law, no matter what it would be called,” Kobakhidze said. The GD pushes to adopt the “exact copy” of the American Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to strike the final blow against civil society and independent media in the country.

Kobakhidze again referred to the “deep state” when talking about the opposition parties. “In fact, the “deep state” helped us a lot to destroy the radical opposition,” Kobakhidze said, adding, “This was one of our main goals.” According to Kobakhidze, the “deep state” “went all in” and “exposed” everything, the entire “network of agents,” which he said included the CSOs, the opposition, and the media.

He claimed that there had been two attempted but failed revolutions in Georgia: “First there was the revolutionary attempt by the [political] parties, then by the so-called journalists, then by the NGOs,” Kobakhidze said. There is a fourth attempt at revolution “by nobody”, he said, referring to the ongoing popular protests in Georgia, which he said are being led by an “amorphous mass”. “All these four attempts have failed,” Kobakhidze said, adding: “The fifth attempt at revolution may be by the ambassadors.”

On the word of diplomats, Irakli Kobakhidze mentioned the EU ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, whom he said he respects, but added that Herczyński is in “a very bad situation because the “deep state” does not allow him to perform his duties as ambassador in this country.” He said that Paweł Herczyński was “dragged” into pre-election agitation “in favor of the collective UNM.”

Kobakhidze further slammed Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, saying, “He does not leave the impression that the foreign minister of a sovereign country should leave.”

During the interview, the GD Prime Minister also called President Salome Zurabishvili an “agent of the “deep state.”

Shalva Papuashvili at Rustavi 2

GD Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili made similar claims about the “deep state” in his interview with another pro-government channel, Rustavi 2.

Papuashvili also claimed that what Georgia’s ruling party had been saying about such forces for years has been “confirmed” by the new administration in the United States.

“We have less power to influence such global processes, groups and networks,” he said. “The only thing that we are doing is defending ourselves. It is difficult to fight against those entangled networks, but our purpose is to protect our people and ourselves,” the GD Parliament Speaker added.

He repeated Kobakhidze’s claim that one of the “manifestations” of the “deep state” efforts was an attempt to drag Georgia into the war with Russia. “The goal was Russia’s isolation and defeat, and the instruments were needed for this…Nobody cared about the fate of Georgia. They would have fought to the last Georgian. They would express their condolences and it would all be over,” he said.

The general purpose of the “deep state,” Papuashvili also said, is to set up “puppet governments” abroad.

Also Read:

• 10/03/2025 – Mdinaradze: “Global Forces Waged Proxy War Against Russia”, “Puppet Governments” Assumed Deep State Function
• 01/03/2025 – Kobakhidze Detracts Global War Party and Deep State as Opposing “President Trump’s Peace Efforts”
• 31/01/2025 – Kobakhidze Welcomes Trump Administration’s Suspension of Foreign Funding
• 24/01/2025 – Kobakhidze Blames “Deep State” and GWP for War in Ukraine
• 08/01/2025 – GD Rails Against ‘Deep State’, ‘Global War Party’, Doubles Down on Conspirationism

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)