Kobakhidze calls OSCE PA's Hague Declaration 'absurd,' ties it to 'deep state'
By Messenger Staff
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has called the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's recent Hague Declaration "absurd," linking its adoption to what he calls the "deep state" and claiming the OSCE has been drawn into an effort to change Georgia's government.
The OSCE PA adopted the Hague Declaration and accompanying resolutions on July 8. The declaration voices serious concerns over Georgia's democratic backsliding, while a separate resolution on Georgia, sponsored by GD critic U.S. Representative Joe Wilson, calls for the release of all political prisoners, the repeal or revision of restrictive legislation, and the launch of a genuine reform process in the country.
At a briefing on July 13, five days after the declaration's adoption, Kobakhidze devoted much of his remarks to the "deep state," a conspiracy theory Georgian Dream officials frequently invoke, alleging informal oligarchic networks control various Western states and institutions and are working to undermine the Georgian government.
"Like other European institutions operating under informal oligarchic influence, the OSCE has now also been openly drawn into a process aimed at changing the government in Georgia through unfair and shameful accusations, sanctions, and other instruments of pressure or blackmail, and replacing it with agents loyal to the 'deep state,'" Kobakhidze says.
He then elaborated on the theory, claiming numerous Western countries and institutions operate under this influence, and criticized the former United National Movement government, which he describes as the "deep state's" domestic "agent network."
Kobakhidze claims Georgia became a "main target" of the "deep state" after declining to open a "second front" against Russia in 2022 and refusing to join international sanctions. He says this position triggered a campaign against Georgia using all available tools, "including once-respected European institutions."
"The resolution adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is precisely part of this process," Kobakhidze says, "fully repeating the absurd accusations that the European bureaucracy operating under informal oligarchic influence uses to encourage radicalism and revolutionary processes in Georgia, which, according to their calculations, must ultimately end with a change of government and the return of their obedient agents to power."
Kobakhidze argues that domestic protests and foreign sanctions are now the "only instruments" left to the "deep state" against Georgia, claiming its resources have been "fully exhausted" following what he calls failed revolutions in recent years.
"Therefore, they are now trying to pressure the country through sanctions and resolutions, so that the Georgian population abandons the right path," he says, adding that under Georgian Dream, "this attempt is also doomed to fail."
Asked by a journalist from pro-government broadcaster Imedi TV how relations between Georgia and the OSCE would proceed, Kobakhidze says cooperation will continue, but its quality will hinge on the assembly's future direction. "The quality of this cooperation will depend on how the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly itself continues its work," he says, "whether it remains at the level of Joe Wilson or rises above the level of Joe Wilson."
