Irakli Rukhadze, owner of the Georgian Dream propaganda mouthpiece Imedi TV, gave an interview on his channel in which he said about the Georgian Dream narrative that “if at some stage, you don’t believe in the premise that Georgia was really asked [by Europe] to get involved in this war [between Russia and Ukraine], every subsequent action that Georgian Dream has done is madness and can not be explained.”
Rukhadze recounted his intervention during the business community meeting with GD PM Irakli Kobakhdize on December 23, where Kobakhdize recounted the whole narrative of his actions, which was “very complicated” and “many people” find it hard to believe. Rukhadze says he told Kobakhidze, “The fact that we listened carefully to you does not mean we all agree with you” and argued, “When this narrative is told, this premise [about the war] needs to be very well explained,”
The businessman further skewered Kobakhidze personally, saying, “When one has such a difficult job, one must stay alert. For example, one must not make the statement like we heard on November 28 [about halting EU accession], which then one is forced to deny.”
Commenting on GD’s choice of Mikheil Kavelashvili as a presidential candidate, Rukhadze said, “A more unifying person could have been chosen, which would have worked constructively with the West.”
Irakli Rukhadze is a senior partner at UK-registered Hunnewell Partners, which manages several major assets in Georgia, including Imedi TV, Liberty Bank, Heidelberg Cement, Rustavi Steel, and communication giant MagtiCom. He has been long-term partner and supporter of Bidzina Ivanishvili, GD patron. According to his profile page at the Liberty Bank where he serves as a board member, he is currently a US citizen.
A surprising intervention by Rukhadze comes in the context of solidifying the U.S. and UK sanctions regime against the Georgian Dream leadership due to the violent crackdown on protests. In the UK House of Commons, Labour representative Blair Mc Dougall has called for the possibility of investigating Hunnewell Partners due to its ownership of Imedi TV, which he described as “the main propaganda arm of that brutal [GD] government.”
Controversially, Georgia Pride director Tamar Jakheli recently targeted Rukhadze, referring to his daughter, a U.S. citizen, who is living in a gay marriage. Jakeli wrote, “The regime propaganda is immoral to the extent that the chief propagandists of the Georgian Dream is willing to sacrifice people just like their children for the identity they have not chosen, only because the Russian authoritarian script says so.” She said Rukhadze “could have said that yes, my child is lesbian and this is a normal thing […] but he chose greed and power over supporting his child.”