According to the agency, one target was Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire business tycoon and former prime minister who founded the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Several Georgians who had travelled to Ukraine to fight with the armed forces and defend the country against Russia’s invasion have been detained for questioning as part of the investigation, local media reported. Pro-government outlets, meanwhile, said a legal case is ongoing, without presenting evidence for the allegations.

The embattled Georgian Dream government has faced accusations it is backsliding on human rights and political freedoms, introducing a new Russian-style law that will brand Western-backed NGOs as foreign agents and violently dispersing protesters.

The country’s candidacy of the EU has been frozen as a result of the row.

Georgia is set for nationwide parliamentary elections in October. Ivanishvili himself has vowed to punish the opposition following the vote, and has built his campaign around anti-Western, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.