A screenshot of a video released by the State Security Service of Georgia, showing the questioning of a suspect alleged to have plotted to blow up a gas pipeline between Russia and Armenia.

Georgia's security services have arrested five men they claim were planning to blow up a gas pipeline between Russia and Armenia, setting off speculation about who could have been behind the alleged plot.

The State Security Service of Georgia announced that it had broken up the plot and released a video showing the explosives they seized, the accused men being taken into custody and questioned, and schemes of the attempted plan. Two others were also arrested in connection with the plot, a police officer accused of "abuse of power" and someone accused of not reporting the plot.

So the question immediately became: who would want to blow up the pipeline? Taken together, Russia and Armenia -- the likely targets of the plot -- have plenty of foes. At a press conference, the authorities alluded to an intriguing Ukraine connection. From Civil.ge:

One of the journalists at the briefing asked the State Security Service official if the arrested men had “links to Ukraine” – the journalist said that his question was stemming from a post on a social media by one of the Georgian volunteer fighters in Ukraine, who wrote that their supporters had been arrested in Georgia.



An investigator from the State Security Service, Savle Motiashvili, responded: “According to available information, one of the arrested men was visiting Ukraine often, but it is not yet clear whether this criminal group was directed from Ukraine.”

Civil.ge surveyed various official and analyst reactions and there was plenty of innuendo surrounding the most well known Georgian in Ukraine, former Georgian president and current Odessa governor Mikhail Saakashvili.

Such a plot may not be beyond Saakashvili -- there's reasonable evidence that his government trained Chechen rebels to carry out attacks in Russia. But the accusations also, of course, should raise suspicions of political skulduggery: parliamentary elections are slated for October, and the ruling Georgian Dream coalition appears to be running neck and neck with the United National Movement, the party that Saakashvili used to head.

​“As we know from the preliminary information, this group was related neither to the Islamic State, nor with other terrorist groups. The investigation will have to gather more information. It was mentioned that one of the arrested men was often visiting Ukraine – that’s also important information. I keep political correctness and I am not pointing finger at anyone at all,” said Irakli Sesiashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream Party.

Stay tuned.