Minister of Defense on Engaging Misinformation from Kremlin

"Russia spreads distorted truth about NATO-Georgia affairs. And this must be confronted," Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili remarked on the last day of Georgian Defense and Security Conference.

When asked by US Ambassador-Designate Elizabeth Rood, one of the moderators of the panel, about what the administration was doing to enhance public trust in state institutions, Garibashvili spoke about the distribution of misinformation by Russia and underlined the need to raise public awareness to combat the above mentioned.

"Russia uses very sophisticated hybrid methods, spreads misinformation about NATO-Georgia relations to feed the public with false information. They try to show that NATO-Georgia relations have no future. We have to confront all this. Our idea is the following: we will open 17 most modern offices of the Ministry of Defense in all regions, which I think will raise awareness and promote the popularity of the military service,” the Minister said.

According to Garibashvili, youth are less involved in serving in the defense forces, and the development of suitable infrastructure and more popularization will solve this issue.

“Over the last few years, I have seen that young generation hesitate to serve in the army. We need to improve infrastructure, repair barracks, develop military infrastructure to improve conditions for soldiers. This would also be a very good motivation for the younger generation.

"We have an idea, we are working on it and we will start to implement it next year. We want to create MoD representations in every region. This will include an information component to give the public direct access to information on reforms we are pursuing in defense," he noted.