Germany's largest newspaper, BILD, published an article on December 29 titled "All Orders Come from Moscow," addressing the recent events in Georgia.
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The publication interviewed Irakli Shaishmelashvili, who resigned from his position as head of the Operational Planning Division of the Special Tasks Department at the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs on December 3 in protest against the MIA’s crackdown on pro-European rallies. He later left the country with his family.
The police colonel told BILD that the Georgian “police are just a tool of Moscow.” According to him, the Georgian government and security agencies are under the control of the Kremlin.
“There are no independent state services in Georgia. Everything is directly connected to Moscow, and all orders come from there,” Shaishmelashvili said.
He added that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is completely corrupt and incompetent. Key positions are not filled based on qualifications, and the most important departments are overseen by relatives of Bidzina Ivanishvili or those who have ever shaken his hand.
“The situation has become unbearable,” Irakli Shaishmelashvili told BILD, noting that after leaving office, threats were made against his family members. According to the publication, it became clear to him that he had to leave the country to protect his family.
In the interview, Irakli Shaishmelashvili expressed a sense of guilt:
“I apologize for the fact that for 22 years I thought I was working for the security of the people of Georgia, but in the end, the well-being of the oligarchs turned out to be more important than the state.”
Before leaving Georgia with his wife and two minor children, Irakli Shaishmelashvili gave an extensive interview to the TV company Pirveli. He stated that the beating of the protesters was being done deliberately and did not rule out that the orders came directly from the honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili himself.
The illegitimate Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, called Shaishmelashvili “an ordinary charlatan.” According to Kobakhidze, he worked in one of the 17 structural units of the GDD and “was not a high-ranking official.”
