The Department of Strategic Communication of the Georgian Government on Thursday rejected as “disinformation” a tweet by a researcher of the Georgian-based Economic Policy Research Center thinktank that alleged Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had claimed Georgia’s Western partners had wanted to drag the country “into the war” in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In its response, the Department said the tweet by the thinktank’s researcher Shota Gvineria, had made the claim while the PM had “never made a statement of this kind” about the American and European partners of his Government.

Gvineria on Wednesday tweeted “PM Garibashvili just stated that 'friends' (Americans & Europeans) wanted to instigate war (second Mariupol) in Georgia and he had to disappoint them by siding with Russia instead of Ukraine. Literally.”

The social media post followed comments by Garibashvili to the local press, in which the PM condemned “accusations” of the local political opposition against his Government, which he said were aimed “to somehow open a second front in Georgia [amid the war in Ukraine].”

In his comments Garibashvili said he had “crushed hopes of all supposed ‘friends’ who wanted a war in our country” by taking positions on the Ukraine war that avoided a conflict in Georgia, adding “there will be no second front and no second war” in the country under his Government.