In 2023, there was an attempt by various actors to prepare the ground for the aggravation of the political situation in Georgia and the violent change of the government, Grigol Liluashvili, head of the State Security Service, stated while presenting the 2023 report of the State Security Service at the plenary session.

According to Liluashvili, in coordination with other competent agencies, all necessary preventive measures were taken to neutralize the mentioned attempts, thus ultimately, it was possible to prevent the development of destructive processes in the country.

In addition, as Liluashvili explained, in 2023, within the counterintelligence activities of the State Security Service, it was revealed that the political and socio-economic processes taking place in Georgia were of particular interest to the special services of foreign countries.

"Due to the changed circumstances in terms of international shipping in the background of the Russia-Ukraine war, there has been a growing interest on the part of foreign and Georgian groups and forces regarding the prospects and plans of launching new transport corridors through Georgia.

In 2023, as part of the counterintelligence activities of the State Security Service, it was revealed that the special services of foreign countries were particularly interested in the ongoing political and socio-economic processes in Georgia, public sentiments, ratings of political parties and their chances of victory in the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2024.

It is worth emphasizing the fact that in 2023 there were targeted statements using media, social networks and the Internet, which created a danger of provoking resentment and confrontation in the regions populated by ethnic and religious minorities," Liluashvili said.

In addition, Grigol Liluashvili noted that monitoring migration channels and flows was one of the priority directions of the Service within the counterintelligence activities.

According to him, the Service considered the cases of 169,407 citizens of foreign countries who requested to obtain a residence permit in Georgia with different statuses.

In addition, the Counterintelligence Department started investigations into 14 criminal cases, and the State Security Service Department started investigating 2 criminal cases.

ipn.ge