2017-11-22
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, together with Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia and Head of State Security Service Vakhtang Gomelauri visited the Referral Hospital to inquire about the conditions of the members of the special operations squad wounded during today's special operation. Deputy Health Minister Zaza Sopromadze updated the Prime Minister on the conditions of the wounded. Giorgi Kvirikashvili thanked the special operations members for their courage.
"As you know, the special operation is completed. Unfortunately, we have one casualty-a special operations member has been killed. I avail myself of this opportunity to offer my sincere sympathies to the family of this serviceman, a true hero. Some are in treatment; as you know, three have been wounded, and I would like to wish them a speedy recovery. I would like to thank everyone, the staff of the State Security Service and the Interior Ministry's Special Task Force, for their heroism in neutralizing the threat. In addition, certain politicians and experts have expressed different views unjustifiable under the circumstances. I would like to urge everyone to abstain from such speculations. There must be a time when we all stand together, and I certainly hope that they will make a note. Questions can be raised, of course, and there are institutional formats to answer such questions, but one cannot publicly discuss the details of an operation of this type. In addition, movement is unrestricted throughout the city, and there are no grounds for security concerns at all. Our heroes have neutralized this threat that could have proved detrimental. I would like to respond to speculations that the operation took too long, and so on. Of course, there were different possible methods of operation, but the priority was to protect the safety of our population, our citizens, and everything was done to ensure against having casualties, and our special operations squad succeeded to this end. We have seen other types of operations in different countries, when buildings are demolished-such result-oriented missions, that is. Our style is different; we do it differently. I am grateful to everyone who has risked their own life to achieve the result that we have.
There were also concerns raised about them being found in the heart of the city-how could that happen? Of course, they were not identified today; there was a preliminary notice, and they were discovered thanks to this preliminary work. This is why I reiterate that, given the nature of this situation, it is wrong when everyone becomes an expert. We must put an end to speculations, maintain our dignity, and thank these guys.
Their ethnicities and citizenship does not matter at all, and we will not emphasize their citizenship. What happened was that, in response to the request to surrender peacefully to the police, they opened fire. Consequently, there was doubt that much worse could have followed, so the actions of the special operations squad and the State Security Service were absolutely legitimate and correct.
Prime Minister's Press Office