Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) has announced the arrest of two Georgian nationals on espionage charges on behalf of foreign countries. The detainees included a director of a pro-Russian organisation, as well as a head of an organisation focused on regional affairs and conflicts.
The SSG made statements about the arrests on Saturday in two separate briefings. In the first case, the agency said that a detainee was ‘connected to the intelligence services of two foreign countries’ and had been ‘for years the founder and head of one of the non-governmental organisations’.
‘He systematically carried out the collection and transfer of intelligence-type information for foreign intelligence services, with the aim of receiving material benefit and advancing the interests of a foreign country’, the agency added.
The SSG further stated that the detainee had ‘highly organised, conspiratorial, and systematic contacts with foreign intelligence services’, and that the transfer of information was carried out ‘both through face-to-face meetings and using electronic means’.
Later, the SSG confirmed identified the suspect as Gulbaat Rtskhiladze, the co-founder and director of the pro-Russian Eurasia Institute. One of his most recent co-initiatives was the creation of a ‘council for monitoring russophobia’ in Georgia.
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According to Myth Detector, Rtskhiladze opposes Georgia’s membership in NATO and the EU and, in contrast, supports joining the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). In 2022, he visited the Russian-occupied Donbas in Ukraine. He claimed he did so in the capacity of a ‘journalist’.
The SSG did not specify on whose behalf Rtskhiladze was allegedly spying. His lawyer, Lasha Golubiani, told media that Rtskhiladze denies the espionage charges and links his arrest to the creation of the ‘russophobia’-related council.
A second detention follows
Three hours after announcing Rtskhiladze’s arrest, the SSG revealed another detention under the same charges. The detainee was accused of collecting and transmitting information to an unspecified foreign intelligence service.
‘The investigation established that a Georgian citizen, acting against the interests of his own country, systematically collected and transmitted intelligence-related information to foreign intelligence services in line with their interests, using personal contacts within journalistic, expert, and other professional circles’, the agency said.
According to the SSG, meetings were arranged through ‘encrypted’ communications, and the information provided included details about ‘ongoing political and economic developments in Georgia and the wider region, including neighbouring countries, as well as the situation within law enforcement agencies and security structures’.
The agency also alleged that the detainee operated ‘an intelligence network composed of various individuals’ under the cover of an online platform and distributed to them ‘funds received from foreign intelligence services’.
Shortly afterward, it emerged that the second detainee was Irakli Chikhladze, founder of the Tbilisi-registered Caucasian Centre for Civil Hearings. According to Georgia’s Public Registry, the organisation, established in 2009, has a governing board that includes Chikhladze and other Georgian members, in addition to Azerbaijani and Armenian nationals.
According to RFE/RL, the organisation mainly focused on regional issues, including conflicts. In 2015, it organised a public hearing in Gori on the situation in villages near the boundary line, and in the same year it brought together Georgian, Ossetian, and Abkhazian journalists in Yerevan.
Chikhladze’s brother, journalist Giga Chikhladze, was killed during the August 2008 War.
Commenting on the case, Chikhladze’s lawyer, Giorgi Gelkhauri, described the charges as ‘absurd’, stressing that his client had no connection to espionage. He also stated that the lawyers had been required to sign non-disclosure agreements, making it difficult to discuss the details of the case.
However, Gelkhauri emphasised that Chikhladze’s case was unrelated to that of Rtskhiladze.
Ani Chikhladze, the detainee’s daughter, said that the charges brought against her father were ‘unimaginable’ both for her family and for ‘everyone who knows my father’.
‘We respect the legal process, but we demand transparency, genuine evidence, and a fair defence. No one should be destroyed by secret accusations, pressure, or a fabricated narrative’, she added.
Previously, throughout April and May, the SSG announced at least two other arrests on espionage charges. On 5 May, it stated that Giorgi Udzilauri had been detained — a now-former employee of the Finance Ministry with a background at the Cartu Group, a conglomerate established by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.Earlier, on 22 April, the SSG announced the arrest of a man from Akhalgori (Leningor).
Although the agency did not specify the country involved in either case, pro-government media reported that the latter was accused of spying for Russia, while Udzilauri was allegedly accused of spying for ‘a European state’.
