The State Security Service of Georgia [SSSG] warned about the “planned criminal plot” aimed at disrupting the upcoming presidential election scheduled for Saturday, December 14.

“The organizers of the criminal acts were determined to prevent the election process from taking place and to hinder the election of Georgia’s next president by any means possible.

The criminal organisers are planning to escalate tensions, particularly on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week, with partial activity on Friday, hoping to provoke violent confrontations. The goal of this escalation is to create victims in the process.

In the interests of state security and peaceful coexistence of citizens, we have repeatedly shared with the public the materials obtained by the investigation into the case initiated by the SSS on the fact of the violent overthrow of the state Government.

As the ongoing protests near the Parliament, sparked by the Government"s decision in late October to postpone the country’s European Union accession talks until 2028, had began to “lose momentum”, a group of local actors was expected to activate, pushing an agenda to artificially escalate the protests. The group intended to use the unrest as a means of violently overthrowing the Government.

Potential conspirators were considering escalating the situation to the point where the deaths of 2-3 people would serve as a catalyst for further unrest. With these sacrifices, they will try to increase the protest charge, encourage radical sentiments, which, according to their intention, should develop into uncontrolled processes and be blamed on the Government in a disguised way.

These individuals have been involved in violent acts against police officers and civilians, both at and outside the protest locations. Of particular note is the attack on journalists from one of the TV stations, which we consider to be one of the probable episodes of the aforementioned criminal plan, which fortunately ended without casualties. The current case is being investigated by the Special Investigation Service [SIS].

The SSSG is cooperating with the SIS to uncover the full truth behind these incidents, is doing everything in power to ensure the safety of the election process and protect the democratic institutions”, - reads the statement.