On February 20, former Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania claimed that Georgia could have had a fully developed air defense system from France by 2021, but the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and its patron, Bidzina Ivanishvili, obstructed the deal.

In 2013, Alasania met with then-French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who requested Georgian troops for the Central African Republic in exchange for a loan-based air defense system from France. The system, identified as the Aster-30, is a French-made medium-range air defense missile, primarily used by the navy, with its ground-based version known as the SAMP/T.

The agreement was set to be signed in October 2014, but Alasania said that shortly before the signing, a senior Georgian official called him and pressured him to withdraw. He alleged that Ivanishvili, who was no longer Prime Minister at the time, was behind this interference.

Despite the pressure, Alasania proceeded with the signing, emphasizing that the deal had been coordinated with all relevant Georgian and French institutions and officials. However, as he prepared to sign, five employees of the Ministry of Defense were arrested—an act he perceived as an attempt to block the agreement. Nevertheless, he signed it, stating, "If I had not signed the agreement, it would have been a betrayal of everything, including these people and the country."

Alasania suggested that the disruption of the air defense deal was not merely a domestic issue. He recalled that Russian representatives had spoken out against the procurement early in the discussions. He also mentioned being informed of a meeting he did not attend, where Ivanishvili allegedly stated that he had to "personally apologize" to Putin because Alasania’s actions had put him "in such a bad position." Alasania concluded, "It is clear that this was not just something Ivanishvili devised on his own, but a direct threat from Russia—this deal had to be stopped because it was unacceptable to them."