Former Georgian prosecutor general forms unit to fight for Russia in Ukraine
Otar Romanov-Partskhaladze, a former prosecutor general of Georgia who is under U.S. sanctions, has announced the formation of an international volunteer unit to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
Romanov-Partskhaladze will command the unit, called Georgievsky, he told Russia's state-run TASS news agency, according to Georgian outlet SOVA.
He said he had voluntarily decided to fight on Russia's side and claimed that he and his team had already been assisting Russian troops and civilians in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and regions of Russia bordering Ukraine.
Romanov-Partskhaladze said the unit was named after the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk, under which the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti became a protectorate of the Russian Empire.
He did not provide details about the unit's size or composition.
Romanov-Partskhaladze served as Georgia's prosecutor general from November to December 2013.
The United States sanctioned him in 2023 over what the U.S. Treasury described as efforts to expand Russian influence in Georgia. He later lost his Georgian citizenship after it emerged that he had acquired Russian citizenship.
He subsequently changed his surname from Partskhaladze to Romanov-Partskhaladze.
Romanov-Partskhaladze is also facing criminal charges in Georgia over the alleged organization of a contract killing attempt against businessman Levan Jangveladze. Georgian authorities have said his Russian citizenship has complicated efforts to extradite him.