Forbes Georgia removes a praising article about businessman Somkhishvili, who is suing Kyiv for $100 million

The Georgian franchise of Forbes, Forbes Georgia, removed a complimentary article about businessman Tamaz Somkhishvili, whose Russian citizenship has been confirmed by the Defense Intelligence Service and who is trying to sue Kyiv for $100 million. The editor-in-chief and author of the article, Giorgi Isakadze, refused to comment on the publication and subsequent withdrawal of the article to Ukrainian journalists.

This was reported by TV presenter Serhii Ivanov, who asked the owners of Forbes, Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family, to comment on the situation that undermines the brand's reputation.

"Georgian Forbes has decided to keep up with the current Georgian government in groveling before Russia. I found out about this by accident while working on the case of the Russian criminal Tamaz ‘Tobolskyi’ Somkhishvili, whose company repairs Russian combat aircraft and is now extorting $100 million from Kyiv. While monitoring the data on the subject of the study, I saw an openly paid-for article by Georgian Forbes about Tobolskyi, and later found out that the magazine had removed the article," Ivanov writes.

He reminded that Somkhishvili and his lawyer Taras Dumych have been conducting an active media campaign lately.

"At first, they promoted the narrative of a 'British investor' demanding budget money, on whom allegedly our relations with London depend. Then they launched a campaign on pro-Russian websites like Vesti. The British investor bought a study claiming that a "discrediting campaign" was being waged against him and also posted it on pro-Russian Vesti. Later, the director of the Center for Content Analysis said in a comment to Glavkom that the buyer, Taras Dumych, misled the Center and did not say that the defendant was a Russian citizen and a criminal thief-in-law," the journalist said.

Serhii Ivanov noted that in the midst of the media campaign, Georgian Forbes published a paid-for story about Tamaz Somchishvili moving from Georgia to Siberia, becoming one of the founders of Lukoil and running an aviation business. Later, the Georgian material was replicated by Ukrainian websites, including Vesti.

Later, the article in Forbes Georgia was removed, and Giorgi Isakadze not only refused to comment on it, but also replaced his photo on his Telegram account with the avatar "Deleted account".

"I don't know why Mr. Isakadze got so excited. Perhaps the US head office expressed surprise at the material that whitewashes a Russian criminal linked to the main Russian mafia man Shakro the Young and Russian puppet Bidzina Ivanishvili. Or perhaps the 'investor' said something unnecessary in the interview and then tried to delete it," suggests Serhii Ivanov.

In his opinion, Tamaz Somkhishvili admitted in this article that he was one of Lukoil's executives, had a joint business with Rosneft, was the real buyer of the Odesa refinery from Lukoil's Grigoryi Surkis, and still has an office in Russia.

Somkhishvili also did not deny that he has a relationship with Bidzina Ivanishvili and controls TAM-Management, which operates the Tbilisi Aviation Plant and is engaged in the repair and modernization of combat aircraft, including SU-25 aircraft, MI-8 and MI-24 helicopters, and R60/73 missiles.

Serhii Ivanov hopes that the editor-in-chief of Forbes Georgia, Giorgi Isakadze, will restore his "deleted account" and give answers about the reasons for the removal of the material, and that the owners of the Forbes media corporation, Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family, will give a proper assessment of the situation.

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