On 15 June, a Russian citizen of Ingush origin, Vasambeg Bokov, was detained in Tbilisi for the illegal purchase and possession of fake documents.  

The Georgian State Security Service stated that Bokov was detained as part of an ongoing investigation into a murder plot and urged media outlets to refrain from spreading ‘incorrect or inaccurate information.’ The agency stated that in detaining the man a “much more serious crime was avoided.” 

The head of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Nika Gvaramia claimed that the man was sent by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and was planning to murder journalist Giorgi Gabunia for insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin last year. Gvaramia said that Ukrainian law enforcers gave the Georgian State Security Service information pertaining to the alleged hit order. He stated that before the pandemic, Ukrainian law enforcers were following Bokov. However, when the situation became uncontrollable due to the pandemic, they provided Georgian colleagues with the information. He claimed that Georgian law enforcers “did not take the information seriously. However, they ensured continued surveillance and protection of Gabunia and finally detained the man.” 

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia also made statements about the case. Zourabichvili thanked the State Security Service for preventing a ‘very serious crime’ allegedly against Gabunia which could have sparked tension and provocations in the country. “We realise that the case is criminal provocation against state stability,” she said.  

“A serious crime was prevented in Georgia. Everyone will try to use the issue for their narrow, political interests as it is an election period in the country. It is important for our law enforcers to investigate the case quickly to provide the public with the details of the case,” stated Gakharia. The Georgian Foreign Ministry said that plotting to murder a journalist is “absolutely unacceptable and it should be quickly revealed who was interested in Georgia’s international discreditation.”

Kadyrov also responded to these allegations by  denying that he ordered the murder of Gabunia. “If I order anything, it will be necessarily fulfilled. If the task is that the order must be executed silently, no one will ever know anything about it,” Kadyrov wrote. “But I emphasize that we have not forgotten how he insulted our state, which means that Giorgi Gabunia, as I said before, should kneel down and apologize. He insulted not one person, but all Russians. I appeal to the Georgian authorities to take measures to bring this citizen up," he added. 

On 7 July, on the prime-time news show “Postscriptum”, which was broadcasted by the opposition-leaning TV channel Rustavi 2, the moderator Gabunia publicly insulted President Putin. Making his  statement in Russian, Gabunia heavily insulted Putin and his deceased parents in extremely vulgar terms. The Georgian government, opposition parties and international community reacted very negatively to Gabunia’s statements (Caucasus Watch reported).