Zurab Abashidze, adviser to the Prime Minister on relations with Russia, confirms his telephone conversation with the president of the Tchaikovsky Charity Foundation, Mark Zilberkvit.

As Zurab Abashidze told IPN, the telephone conversation took place 2 years ago, but the content of the disseminated recording is fake.

"As for Mark Zilberkvit, he is a private person, I know him from the time when I worked as an Ambassador in Moscow. Zilberkvit was never an official, nor is he now, and I think he even departed to America.

I confirm that I had a phone conversation with him 2 years ago, but the content of this conversation is cut, edited fake. It seems that for 2 years they were editing it in the whey that they desire. When another, illegally obtained telephone conversation with Mr. Karasin was disseminated, then I said: I confirm both the conversation and the content of the conversation.

This time I say: yes, the conversation took place, but the content is fake, so I do not comment on the content.

The conversation is cut, fake. 2 years is enough time to edit it the way you want," said Abashidze.

For information, an audio recording was released on YouTube, in which Zurab Abashidze, the Prime Minister's adviser on relations with Russia, is allegedly talking with Mark Zilberkvit, the president of the Tchaikovsky Charity Foundation, who accompanied Vladimir Posner to Tbilisi. According to the recording, Abashidze calls those who protested Posner's visit to Tbilisi "a group of Nazis" and apologizes to Posner. The recording, the authenticity of which has not been confirmed, is dated April 1, 2021 and was released today.