Day: October 8, 2025
The U.S. State Department has confirmed it “requested a meeting” with Georgian Ambassador Tamar Taliashvili after Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze dismissed reports that she had been summoned as “a lie.”
“The U.S. State Department requested to meet with Georgian Ambassador Tamar Taliashvili to convey our objection to statements by Georgian government officials amplifying false media reports, which mischaracterized routine U.S. government financial transfers to former U.S. employees,” the State Department told Netgazeti on October 7.
The State Department also said, “Rather than seeking clarification, senior Georgian government officials chose to amplify those false media reports, generating an atmosphere of harassment and intimidation for past and current U.S. embassy employees.”
The summoning came after remarks by Georgia’s State Security Service Chief Mamuka Mdinaradze, who claimed in a recent TV interview that “the embassy of one country in Thailand” was funding people in Georgia “for anti-Chinese purposes,” but that the funds were used instead to support “radicals against the government for revolutionary purposes.” Identifying the source, he later said, “This is how American taxpayer money is being spent.”
Responding to those claims, the State Department also noted in the recent comment that its Global Financial Service Center in Bangkok “plays a routine yet critical role in disbursing funds all over the world to support U.S. government operations,” adding that the transactions are “routine, transparent, and conducted in full compliance with U.S. and host country laws and regulations.”
Following the initial October 4 reports about Taliashvili’s summoning, Kobakhidze rejected them as “a lie,” saying, “You know that a summons is a diplomatic procedure. She was not summoned even once. She had many meetings, including with the State Department and the State Department representative. As for the communication, this information is classified, and we can’t speak about it.”
Tamar Taliashvili, a former Georgian Dream lawmaker and Georgia’s former permanent representative to the Council of Europe, was appointed as ambassador to the United States in June. She presented her credentials to President Donald Trump in late July.
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US summons Georgian ambassador
The Georgian outlet Netgazeti published a response from the US State Department, confirming that it had summoned Georgia’s ambassador to the United States, Tamar Taliashvili, to protest against the anti-Western disinformation spread by members of the Georgian government.
According to the State Department, the move was prompted by recent statements from Georgian officials alleging Western involvement in financing a revolution in the country.
US State Department response
“The U.S. Department of State requested a meeting with Georgian Ambassador Tamar Taliashvili to express our disagreement with statements by Georgian government officials that echo false media reports misrepresenting routine U.S. government financial transfers to former employees.
Rather than seeking clarification, senior Georgian officials chose to amplify this misinformation, creating an atmosphere of harassment and intimidation toward former and current U.S. Embassy staff.
The State Department’s Global Financial Services Center in Bangkok performs a routine but vital role in managing U.S. government funds worldwide. It processes salary payments for American and local employees, contractors, host governments, and other partners. These transactions are standard, transparent, and fully compliant with both U.S. and host country laws and regulations.”
What happened?
On 4 October, Radio Liberty reported that Georgia’s ambassador to the United States, Tamar Taliashvili, had been summoned to the US State Department, where officials expressed “deep concern” over claims by members of the ruling Georgian Dream party that Washington was “financing a revolution in Georgia from Thailand.”
The reports follow a segment aired by the pro-government television channel Imedi, which alleged that funds were being channelled from Thailand to support “revolutionary activities” in Georgia. Several senior officials from Georgian Dream echoed those accusations.
In an interview with the same channel, Mamuka Mdinaradze, head of Georgia’s State Security Service, claimed his agency had “decoded” several networks allegedly used to finance revolutionary goals in Georgia.
“For example, there are people in one of the major foreign embassies in Thailand who receive funding to work on anti-Chinese objectives. In about 95–98% of cases, this money is actually used for radical actions against the government — for revolutionary purposes, performances and events,” Mdinaradze said.
“In other words, the money of American taxpayers is being spent not on countering Chinese threats, but on completely different aims,” he added.
A US embassy spokesperson in Tbilisi told Radio Liberty that Washington was “deeply concerned that senior Georgian officials are irresponsibly spreading false information,” which has fuelled “a public campaign of harassment and intimidation based entirely on disinformation.”
US summons Georgian ambassador