Saakashvili says Ukrainian President Zelenskiy is 'against thieves'

Controversial Georgian ex-leader Mikheil Saakashvili has been offered a top government post in Ukraine, prompting anger in Tbilisi. Talking to DW, Saakashvili warned a collapse in Ukraine would threaten all of Europe.

  
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy triggered a diplomatic row with Georgia by offering the post of deputy prime minister to former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, prompting Tbilisi to threaten to recall its ambassador to Kyiv on Friday.

Saakashvili's new post would be "categorically unacceptable" to Georgia, said Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia. In turn, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry commented that it was yet to receive a formal note from Tbilisi and was still regarding Georgia as a "trusted friend and ally."

From college friends to political enemies

The now 52-year-old Saakashvili took power in Georgia as a leader of a peaceful pro-Western revolution in 2003. While enjoying enormous support among voters and backing from Western countries in the early years of his presidency, his credibility was damaged when the government launched a heavy-handed crackdown against protesters in 2007. Still, Saakashvili managed to secure another term in early 2008.

Some months later, Georgia lost a brief war against Russia for control of two of its provinces. Many blamed the war on Saakashvili's miscalculations. Throughout his second term, Saakashvili's rivals continued to accuse him of trying to control the media and judiciary and of trading favors with businessmen close to his government.

The leader left Georgia for the US in 2013. In 2015, he secured Ukrainian citizenship from the country's then-president Petro Poroshenko, who was Saakashvili's friend from college. The native Georgian then started a new political career in Ukraine as a governor of Odessa.

Saakashvili and his vocal supporters eventually turned on former President Petro Poroshenko

After a year and half in power, however, Saakashvili publicly fell out with Poroshenko and accused the president of trying to sabotage an anti-corruption campaign. The ensuing political war led to many intense public incidents, including a crowd of Saakshvili's supporters spectacularly breaking him out of a police car in downtown Kyiv during a failed arrest attempt in late 2017.

With Petro Poroshenko losing the 2019 election to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the flamboyant politician is no longer targeted by the Ukrainian government.

However, Saakashvili was convicted of abuse of power in Georgia and remains a wanted man in his native country.

Read more:  Saakashvili: Georgian reformist battles Ukraine's president

'Drain the swamp'

Talking to DW's Alexandra Indyukhova on Friday, Saakashvili said he asked by Zelenskiy to "strengthen the government's capacity for reforms." Specifically, Saakashvili hopes to battle corruption and take charge of negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international institutions.

When asked about recent political developments in Ukraine, Saakashvili told DW that former President Poroshenko "was a thief and and Zelenskiy is definitely against thieves."

Ukraine's economy had been on the ropes for years, even before the coronavirus; new President Zelenskiy also has eastern rebels with Russian support and a corrupt system to contend with

"He is absolutely sincere in his desire to tackle the old system but right now either he will drain the swamp or the old system will swallow him," he added.

The former Georgian president also warned that Ukraine was on the brink of collapse because of the ongoing conflict in the east and the new economic crisis.

"This is a real challenge because if Ukraine's economy collapses, as it is projected, considering the separatist forces, the destabilizing impulses from Russia, we are facing a very dangerous situation — not [just] for us here, but for the entire European continent," he said.

Read more:  Ukraine conflict: Can the Minsk-2 peace deal with Russia be salvaged?

The Ukrainian parliament is due to vote on Saakashvili's appointment next week. However, some reports indicate that even the ruling party behind Zelenskiy is deeply divided on the issue.

dj/msh (Interfax, Ukrainski Novini, AFP)

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Georgia's jailed ex-president says Putin's Russia is not ready for a new 'hot' war

DAVID BRENNAN
Sat, October 26, 2024 a

Georgia's Saturday parliamentary elections have been cast by all parties as an era-defining moment for the country's 3.8 million people.

For one of the country's best known men, the results of the election could mean the difference between incarceration and freedom.

Former President Mikheil Saakashvili, 56, has been jailed since 2021 on charges of abuse of power and organizing an assault on an opposition lawmaker -- charges he contends are politically motivated.

"My imprisonment is purely political and everyone knows that," Saakashvili told ABC News in an interview conducted from his prison cell via intermediaries. "Once the politics changes, it will be finished."

PHOTO: In this Sept. 23, 2008 file photo President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili addresses the 63rd annual United Nations General Assembly meeting at UN headquarters in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images, FILE)More

MORE: War or peace? Russia’s wrath hangs over Georgia elections

Saturday's election will pit the Moscow-leaning Georgian Dream government against several pro-Western opposition parties, among them the United National Movement party founded by Saakashvili in 2001.

Among the UNM's priorities, if it wins power as part of a pro-Western coalition, will be to free Saakashvili.

The campaign has been fraught with allegations of meddling and political violence on behalf of GD. The opposition is hoping to mobilize a historic turnout to defeat what they say are GD efforts to undermine the contest.

"The only recipe for tackling election meddling is erecting the wall of mass turnout at the ballot box," Saakashvili said.

People power has proved a serious problem for GD in recent years. Mass protests defeated the government's first effort to introduce a foreign agents registration law -- which critics say was modeled on Russian legislation used to criminalize Western-leaning politicians, activists and academics -- in 2023.

The government pushed the legislation through again in 2024 despite renewed and intense demonstrations.

Opponents credit GD founder, former prime minister and Georgia's richest man -- Bidzina Ivanishvili -- as the mastermind behind what they say is the government's authoritarian and pro-Moscow pivot, though the billionaire does not hold an official position.

Saakashvili said Ivanishvili -- who made his fortune in Russia after the Soviet collapse -- and the GD party "will go as far as it takes" to retain power this weekend, "but the question will be once they lose the elections if the government structures follow the orders from the oligarch," he added, referring to Ivanishvili.

PHOTO: Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili attends the final campaign rally of the ruling Georgian Dream party in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 23, 2024. (Giorgi Arjevanidze/AFP via Getty Images)

Ivanishvili and his party are framing the vote as a choice between war and peace. A new Western-led government, they say, will put Tbilisi back on the path to conflict with Russia, reviving the bloodshed of the 2008 war that saw Moscow cement its occupation of 20% of Georgian territory.

"It is straight from the Russian playbook," Saakashvili said of the GD warnings. "Blaming victims for aggression against them. As far as we are concerned, real security and peace is associated with being part of Euro-Atlantic structures, and European Union membership is within reach." Georgia received EU candidate status in 2023.

The latest polls suggest that GD will emerge as the largest party, but will fall significantly short of a parliamentary majority. A grand alliance of pro-EU and pro-NATO opposition parties, though, could get past the 50% threshold to form a new governing coalition.

"Polls are a very treacherous thing in authoritarian systems," Saakashvili said. "Moldova's recent example shows that polls get compromised by mass vote buying, and surely that will be the case in Georgia."

"On the other hand, those that say to pollsters that they are voting for the government very often don't say the truth," he added.

PHOTO: A man holds a Georgian flag during an opposition rally ahead of the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 20, 2024. (Shakh Aivazov/AP)

Saakashvili's 2021 imprisonment marked the nadir of a 20-year political rollercoaster. Saakashvili went from the much-loved leader of Georgia's pro-Western Rose Revolution in 2003 to being vanquished by President Vladimir Putin's Russian military machine by 2008.

By 2011, Saakashvili's government was itself accused of violently suppressing protests, with the president soon also embroiled in human rights and corruption scandals.

Constitutionally barred from serving three consecutive terms, Saakashvili left Georgia after the 2013 presidential election and in 2018 was convicted in absentia on abuse of power and other charges.

A Ukrainian citizen -- his citizenship was revoked by President Petro Poroshenko in 2017 before being restored by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019 -- Saakashvili went on to serve as governor of the Odessa region from 2015 to 2016. Zelenskyy appointed Saakashvili as the head of the executive committee of the National Council of Reforms in 2020.

Saakashvili returned to Georgia in October 2021 as the country prepared for local elections. He was arrested and detained by police.

His domestic and international allies have repeatedly condemned his imprisonment, raising concerns of his ill treatment and subsequent ill health. U.S. and European Union officials have also urged Tbilisi to do more to ensure Saakashvili's fair treatment.

PHOTO: Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili appears in court in Tbilisi, Georgia on Nov. 29, 2021. (Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters/Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, FILE)

He has been hospitalized while in prison -- once due to a hunger strike -- and his gaunt appearance during a 2023 video conference court hearing prompted Zelenskyy to summon the Georgian ambassador in Kyiv to complain.

Saakashvili broadly blames Putin for his current situation. But he believes Moscow is not necessarily in a position to prevent a pro-Western pivot in Tbilisi.

"In 2008, the war happened after the West had sent a clear sign of weakness by refusing the NATO accession for Georgia and Ukraine," Saakashvili said.

"If there is no hesitation this time, Russia is so stuck in Ukraine that it has no motivation to create a new hot war elsewhere."

"We have no other choice," he responded, when asked about the risks of perturbing the Kremlin. "The only other alternative is going back," he said, "living in the Russian sphere of influence."

As to his own plans if indeed he is freed, Saakashvili described himself as "a regional rather than purely Georgian leader."

"I will help any next non-oligarch government with transition by advice," he added, but said he will not seek any official position of power.

"And of course, I am a Ukrainian national and it is my duty to stand by Ukraine."

PHOTO: Supporters of Georgia's pro-Western and pro-European Union opposition groups hold a rally ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 20, 2024. (Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters)

EU leader denounces Russia's 'hybrid war' aiming to destabilize Western Balkan democracies

Associated Press
Updated Sat, October 26, 2024


European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen listens to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during a news conference at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)ASSOCIATED PRESS

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference after talks with Montenegro's Prime Minister Milojko Spajic in Podgorica, Montenegro, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Montenegro's Prime Minister Milojko Spajic, right, shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Podgorica, Montenegro, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday denounced Russia's hybrid attacks against democracies, saying the European Union is fighting daily to debunk misinformation.

Von der Leyen was in Kosovo as part of a trip this week to aspiring EU member states in the Western Balkans to assure them that enlargement remains a priority for the 27-nation bloc.

Von der Leyen denounced Russia's efforts “to destabilize these democracies,” adding that Brussels works to unveil propaganda “to the benefit of a whole region.”

“It is possible for us to stand up with the truth and with transparency and with very clear messaging. So here we are really countering a hybrid attack that Russia is leading against democracies,” she said at a news conference in the capital, Pristina.

Von der Leyen came to Kosovo from neighboring Serbia, which has close ties to Russia and has refused to join international sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

She did not mention the 13-year-old EU-led dialogue to normalize ties between Serbia and its former province, Kosovo, instead focusing on EU efforts to develop the region's economy.

Kosovo-Serbia ties remain tense, even 25 years after NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 that ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 people dead, mainly ethnic Albanians. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008, which Belgrade has not recognized.



Last year EU officials offered a 6-billion-euro (about $6.5 billion) growth plan to the Western Balkan countries in an effort to double the region’s economy over the next decade and accelerate their efforts to join the bloc. That aid is contingent on reforms that would bring their economies in line with EU rules.

The Western Balkan countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are at different stages in their applications for EU membership. The countries have been frustrated by the slow pace of the process, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has propelled European leaders to push the six to join the bloc.

The Commission on Wednesday approved the reform agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia following a green light from EU member states. That was a key step to allow payments under the growth plan upon completion of agreed reform steps.

Von der Leyen's trip concluded with a visit to small Montenegro, a NATO member state which is seen as the first in line for EU membership. Von der Leyen praised Montenegro's effortson the EU path, saying “we are now closing one chapter after another.”



Montenegro's government is a cohabitation between pro-EU and pro-Russian factions. Von der Leyen urged unity in the divided nation to achieve progress toward EU membership.

“I want to assure you that, like in my first mandate, enlargement will be at the top of the political agenda for the next five years," said von der Leyen. “We have now all the necessary tools, all the necessary instruments in place, so let’s make it happen, let’s make it a reality, and work towards this common goal.”

___

AP writer Predrag Milic contributed from Podgorica, Montenegro.

EU leader praises Serbia for its advances in EU membership bid despite growing Russian influence

DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Updated Fri, October 25, 2024

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, shakes hands with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic after a news conference at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday praised the Serbian president for meeting her and other European Union leaders instead of attending a Russia-organized summit of developing economies held earlier this week.

Serbia has close ties to Russia and has refused to join international sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. In a telephone conversation Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said EU candidate Serbia would maintain its stance on sanctions, notwithstanding EU and other Western pressure.

However, despite Putin's invitation, Vucic did not attend a three-day summit of the BRICS group of nations, led by Russia and China, which took place in the Russian city of Kazan earlier this week. Leaders or representatives of 36 countries took part in the summit, highlighting the failure of U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

Vucic sent a high-level delegation to the meeting, but said he could not attend himself because he had scheduled meetings with von der Leyen and Polish and Greek leaders. There are fears in the West that Putin is plotting trouble in the volatile Balkans in part to shift some of the attention from its invasion of Ukraine.

“What I see is that the president of the Republic of Serbia is hosting me here today and just has hosted the prime minister of Greece and the prime minister of Poland. That speaks for itself, I think," von der Leyen said at a joint press conference with Vucic.

“And for my part, I want to say that my presence here today, in the context of my now fourth trip to the Balkan region since I took office, is a very clear sign that I believe that Serbia’s future is in the European Union," she said.

Vucic said he knows what the EU is demanding for eventual membership — including compliance with foreign policy goals — but did not pledge further coordination.



“Of course, Ursula asked for much greater compliance with EU’s foreign policy declaration," he said. “We clearly know what the demands are, what the expectations are.”

Von der Leyen was in Serbia as part of a trip this week to aspiring EU member states in the Western Balkans to assure them that EU enlargement remains a priority for the 27-nation bloc. From Serbia, von der Leyen will travel to neighboring Kosovo and Montenegro.

Serbian media reported that von der Leyen refused to meet with Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic because of his talks Friday with a high-level Russian economic delegation, which was in Belgrade to discuss deepening ties with Serbia. Vucic will meet the Russian officials on Saturday.

In Bosnia on Friday, von der Leyen promised support for the deeply split Balkan country which is struggling with the reforms needed to advance toward EU membership.

The Western Balkan countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are at different stages in their applications for EU membership. The countries have been frustrated by the slow pace of the process, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has propelled European leaders to push the six to join the bloc.

Bosnia gained candidate status in 2022. EU leaders in March agreed in principle to open membership negotiations, though Bosnia must still do a lot of work.

“We share the same vision for the future, a future where Bosnia-Herzegovina is a full-fledged member of the European Union,” said von der Leyen at a joint press conference with Bosnian Prime Minister Bojana Kristo. “So, I would say, let’s continue working on that. We’ve gone a long way already, we still have a way ahead of us, but I am confident that you’ll make it.”

Last year EU officials offered a 6-billion-euro (about $6.5 billion) growth plan to the Western Balkan countries in an effort to double the region’s economy over the next decade and accelerate their efforts to join the bloc. That aid is contingent on reforms that would bring their economies in line with EU rules.


The Commission on Wednesday approved the reform agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia following a green light from EU member states. That was a key step to allow payments under the growth plan upon completion of agreed reform steps.

However, Bosnia's reform agenda has still not been signed off by the Commission.

“The accession process is, as you know, merit-based … we do not look at a rigid data but we look at the merits, the progress that a country is making,” said von der Leyen. "The important thing is that we have an ambitious reform agenda, like the other five Western Balkan countries also have. We stand ready to help you to move forward.”

Long after a 1992-95 ethnic war that killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless, Bosnia remains ethnically divided and politically deadlocked. An ethnic Serb entity — one of Bosnia's two equal parts joined by a common government — has sought to gain as much independence as possible.

Upon arrival in Bosnia, von der Leyen on Thursday first went to Donja Jablanica, a village in central Bosnia that was devastated in recent floods and landslides. The disaster in early October claimed 27 lives and the small village was virtually buried in rocks from a quarry located on a hill above.

Von der Leyen said the EU is sending an immediate aid package of 20 million euros ($21 million) and will also provide support for reconstruction later on.

—-

AP writer Jovana Gec contributed from Belgrade.

'We will do our best to accelerate our European path,' Serbia's Vučić says

Euronews
Fri, October 25, 2024 at 10:44 AM MDT



European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade on Friday to discuss Serbia's path toward the European Union.

“Europe remains strongly committed to the European future of Serbia,” von der Leyen said after meeting with Vučić.

"In times of conflicts and wars and turmoil, being a member of the European Union is a promise of peace and prosperity, and it is a promise that we can deliver together," she added.



The Commission President was in Serbia as part of a trip this week to aspiring EU member states in the Western Balkans, aiming to reassure them that EU enlargement remains a priority for the 27-nation bloc.

Earlier on Friday she visited Bosnia where she promised support for the troubled Balkan nation as it struggles with reform needed to advance toward membership in the European Union.

The Western Balkans countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are at different stages in their applications for EU membership.

The countries have expressed frustration over the slow pace of the process; however, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has prompted European leaders to encourage the six nations to join the bloc.

Related
'Without Serbia EU is not complete,' Polish PM Donald Tusk says

Last year EU officials offered a €6 billion growth plan to the Western Balkan countries in an effort to double the region’s economy over the next decade and accelerate their efforts to join the bloc.

That aid is contingent on reforms that would bring their economies in line with EU rules.

Vučić on Friday said Serbia would "give our best" to "accelerate" its path to joining the EU. Serbia became an EU candidate country in 2012.

The Commission on Wednesday approved the reform agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia following a green light from EU member states. It was a key step to allow payments under the growth plan upon completion of agreed reform steps.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reviews the honor guard with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during a welcome ceremony at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)ASSOCIATED PRESS

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen smiles during a joint news conference with the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik attend a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)ASSOCIATED PRESS

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a joint news conference with the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Members of the Bosnian Presidency Zeljka Cvijanovic, left, Denis Becirovic, center and Zeljko Komsic, right, pose for a photo with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, prior to the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)ASSOCIATED PRESS

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference after talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)ASSOCIATED PRESS

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives at a news conference after talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Saakashvili: Georgia's ailing ex-leader starts new hunger strike

Saakashvili was sent to jail after he smuggled himself back into Georgia last year

By Rayhan Demytrie
BBC News, Tbilisi

Jailed Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has vowed to go on hunger strike again after a court hearing into his jail term was postponed.

Saakashvili, 54, has been in a Georgian jail for more than a year, convicted of abuse of power while in office.

He has not been seen in public since April, and has reportedly suffered significant weight loss and is unable to move without assistance.

Wednesday's hearing was cancelled because no video link was set up.

The court in Tbilisi had been due to consider whether to suspend his sentence or release him on humanitarian grounds for medical treatment abroad. Saakashvili's lawyer told the BBC the government was afraid to reveal the real state he was now in.

Saakashvili hopes the international community will press Georgia to release him. "SOS. I am dying, I have very little time left," he wrote earlier in a hand-written note to the French president.

He has already staged two hunger strikes against his imprisonment. He was transferred to the private Vivamedi Clinic in Tbilisi in May 2022 and has been confined to a room there.

In a statement on Wednesday he said his right to trial had been refused, so he was forced to respond.

"I am aware of all the risks, considering my health condition, but I will be on hunger strike until I get guarantees that I will be involved in my process, at least with a video link."

Empathy, an organisation supporting victims of torture in Georgia, alleged on 1 December that he had been diagnosed with illnesses "incompatible with imprisonment" and that Georgian and foreign medical experts had found evidence of heavy-metal poisoning.

Hair samples revealed high levels of mercury.

But the Georgian government denies Saakashvili's life is in danger.

"We will not allow anyone, no matter who they are, to put themselves above the law," Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told local media on 7 December.

"I heard a lot that Saakashvilli is depressed and does not like the environment. Which prisoner likes the prison environment?" he said.

The former president has inflamed tensions in Georgia between his supporters and those who want him punished for crimes committed in office.

Mikheil Saakashvilli rose to power after Georgia's so-called Rose Revolution in 2003 and was credited with introducing major reforms and helping to steer the country towards a more Western system of democracy. But in his final years in office, he was accused of turning increasingly authoritarian.

He led the country until his party's defeat in elections in 2012, then later left Georgia to avoid facing prosecution.

Saakashvili was tried in absentia and sentenced to six years in 2018 for abuses of power. There are additional criminal cases against the former president, including illegally crossing the state border last September, after he smuggled himself back into Georgia.

But his supporters believe his prosecution is a transparent political vendetta.

Saakashvilli had a very public falling-out with Georgia's powerful oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia.

Mikheil Saakashvili/Facebook
I am sick, but tomorrow I want to attend the court that decides my life or death. thank you everyone! I love youMikheil Saakashvili
Scrawled letter written last week


Mr Ivanishvili founded the governing party, Georgian Dream, and is widely believed to maintain influence in politics.

The opposition United National Movement, founded by Saakashvili, has accused the current administration of being pro-Kremlin for failing to openly criticise Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Georgia's government argues its approach to its northern neighbour is pragmatic and accuses the opposition of seeking to entangle Georgia in Russia's war.

Saakashvili describes himself as a prisoner of President Vladimir Putin.

"All my life I fought for freedom and reforms in Georgia and Ukraine against Russia's imperialist policy. Putin considers me one of his main enemies," Saakashvili wrote in his note to the French president.

IMAGE SOURCE,GEORGIA INTERIOR MINISTRY/REUTERSImage caption,
Saakashvili was detained in October 2021 when he made a surprise return to Georgia

The Russian leader infamously threatened to hang Saakashvili "by his balls" during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war over the Georgian region of South Ossetia, which is now occupied by Russia.

Eduard Saakashvili warned journalists at the European Parliament this week that his father's health was in decline and that he was growing weaker: "A person who used to be energetic, ambitious, charismatic, restless is slowly fading away.

"Add that to the medical reports and we see a dire picture… from mistreatment and inadequate care... We cannot allow my father Mikheil Saakashvili to die in prison."

He called on the Georgian government to allow his father to receive treatment abroad.

Earlier, the US ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, said the government of Georgia was responsible for meeting Saakashvili's medical needs and ensuring his rights.

When asked about his responsibility for the former president's well-being, Prime Minister Garibashvili said it was in the hands of God.

"Our lives are given to God, so I can't really be responsible for anyone's life," he said.

NO FRIEND OF PUTIN
Ex-Georgian president Saakashvili poised for another political comeback in Ukraine

Ilya Zhegulev

KIEV (Reuters) - The former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, said on Wednesday he had been invited to become deputy prime minister of Ukraine in charge of driving reforms, in what would mark another comeback for the maverick politician.
FILE PHOTO: Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili arrives in Kiev as his supporter shows the decree of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which restores Saakashvili's citizenship, at Boryspil International Airport outside Kiev, Ukraine May 29, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

One of the most recognizable leaders in the post-Soviet world, Saakashvili was brought in to run the southern Odessa region of Ukraine in 2015 but fell out with the president at the time, Petro Poroshenko.

Saakashvili said he had been invited to join the government of the current president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose candidacy he backed in last year’s election.

He will join at a time when Ukraine faces a recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and the government is trying to secure an $8 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund that is contingent on Kiev’s reform performance.

“It is a great honour for me to receive from President Zelenskiy an offer to become deputy prime minister of the Ukrainian government for reform,” Saakashvili wrote on Facebook.

“We have a very difficult period ahead ... we now have more than ever to be courageous in our decisions and reforms.”

David Arakhamia, the head of Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People faction, told Reuters that parliament could vote on Saakashvili’s appointment on Friday.

Arakhamia said Saakashvili was suited to a broad-ranging role in fighting corruption and that his abilities had not been properly used in Ukraine before.

Zelenskiy’s office said the president had met Saakashvili to discuss Saakashvili’s vision of how he might help Ukraine’s development.

“Mikheil Saakashvili is well known in the international arena and has already demonstrated experience of the successful implementation of reforms,” his office said.

Saakashvili had been hired to run Odessa five years ago based on his track record of fighting corruption as president of Georgia after the 2003 Rose Revolution.

He resigned as governor in 2016 and accused Poroshenko of corruption, which Poroshenko denied.

The Ukrainian authorities stripped Saakashvili of his citizenship when he was abroad, but he barged his way through a checkpoint at the Polish border to get back into Ukraine in September 2017. He was deported five months later.

Saakashvili returned to Ukraine last year after Zelenskiy restored his citizenship in one of his first official acts as president.

Alexander Rodnyansky, an economist at Britain’s Cambridge University and former adviser to the Ukrainian government, told Reuters Saakashvili’s arrival would be positive for reforms.

“I have always respected Georgia’s experience and the reforms that it has carried out, and I hope that this will not break any political balances,” he said.

Georgians vow mass hunger-strike after reports ex-leader 'tortured'


This latest protest took place on Saakashvili's 54th birthday (AFP/Vano SHLAMOV)

Irakli METREVELI
Tue, December 21, 2021, 11:30 AM·3 min read

Several thousand supporters of Georgia's jailed opposition leader and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili rallied Tuesday vowing a "mass hunger-strike" to secure his release after doctors said he was tortured in custody.

Waving Georgia's five-cross flag and holding banners that read "Free Saakashvili!" protesters marched through the capital Tbilisi before gathering outside parliament for the rally timed to coincide with the politician's 54th birthday.

Saakashvili's arrest exacerbated a political crisis stemming from parliamentary polls last year that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.

It also spurred the largest anti-government protests in a decade.

"Today, we are launching a mass hunger-strike that will not end until Mikheil Saakashvili is released from captivity," Nika Melia, the chairman of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), said to applause.

It was not immediately clear how many people intended to participate in the hunger-strike outside the UNM headquarters.

"This is a non-violent protest, a tough move, we have no other choice but to put pressure on the regime so that it loosens its grip on the Georgian state which it has captured," Melia, the leader of the country's main opposition group, said.

In a message to supporters that was read out at the rally by Saakashvili's mother, Giuli Alasania, the former leader called for national unity and peaceful mass protests to pressure authorities to hold snap parliamentary polls.

He said Georgia's "long-time dream and historic aspiration of European integration is under threat".

"We are in vital need of free media, impartial judiciary, fair elections. We need freedom here and now, and for good."

"Changing the current regime is an essential pre-condition for the fulfilment of our Western aspirations," he added referring to the ruling Georgian Dream party founded by the powerful oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.

- 'Back to European path' -

Georgia's richest man who made his fortune in Russia, Ivanishvili is widely believed to be the top decision-maker in the country, despite having no official political role.

One of the demonstrators, 47-year-old architect Giorgi Darsavelidze, told AFP that "Ivanishvili's regime will crumble under popular pressure".

"We will not stop until Saakashvili is free, until Georgia is back to its European path," Darsavelidze added.

On Saturday, an independent council of doctors who examined Saakashvili in custody, said he had developed serious neurological diseases "as a result of torture, ill-treatment, inadequate medical care, and a prolonged hunger-strike".

Saakashvili refused food for 50 days to protest his jailing for abuse of office, a conviction he has denounced as politically motivated.

The flamboyant pro-Western reformer called off his hunger strike after he was placed -- in a critical condition -- in a military hospital in Georgia's eastern city of Gori.

Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was arrested on October 1 shortly after he secretly returned to Georgia from exile in Ukraine.

Amnesty International has branded Saakashvili's treatment "not just selective justice but apparent political revenge".

The US State Department has urged Georgia's government "to treat Saakashvili fairly and with dignity".

Rights groups have accused the Georgian government of using criminal prosecutions to punish political opponents and critical media.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili sparked an uproar recently when he said the government had been forced to arrest Saakashvili because he refused to quit politics.

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Georgia jailed ex-leader Saakashvili 'tortured' in custody: doctors


Georgia's jailed opposition leader and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, pictured in court in November 2021, has faced torture and ill-treatment in custody, an independent council of medics said (AFP/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE)

Irakli METREVELI
Sat, December 18, 2021

The health of Georgia's jailed opposition leader and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has been seriously damaged as a result of torture and ill-treatment in custody, an independent council of medics said Saturday.

Saakashvili refused food for 50 days to protest against his jailing for abuse of office, a conviction he has denounced as politically motivated.

The 53-year-old pro-Western reformer called off his hunger strike after he was placed -- in a critical condition -- in a military hospital in Georgia's eastern city of Gori.

He has developed a number of neurological diseases "as a result of torture, ill-treatment, inadequate medical care, and a prolonged hunger-strike", said the doctors, who had examined him in custody.

Their statement said he had been diagnosed with the potentially life-threatening brain disease Wernicke encephalopathy and with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among other conditions.

One of the doctors, psychiatrist Mariam Jishkariani, told AFP that the conditions that "resulted from Saakashvili's psychological torture in prison, could lead to his incapacitation if he is not given a proper medical care".

She said Saakashvili was "wrongly prescribed antipsychotic drugs which he hadn't needed and which could further damage his health".

"This could be interpreted as a pharmacological torture."

Earlier in November, Saakashvili said he was subjected to psychological torture that included death threats, sleep deprivation and physical abuse.

"I was tortured, I was treated inhumanely, beaten up, and humiliated," he said.

Georgia's State Inspector Service said in a statement last week that it "had launched an investigation into the alleged inhuman treatment" of Saakashvili.

- 'Political revenge' -

The independent Pirveli TV channel reported that inmates in the prison shouted threats and profanities at Saakashvili who led a campaign against organised crime during his tenure as president.

Saakashvili has said it was "orchestrated by the prison administration".

He described an episode when he "was alone and absolutely sure the criminals were coming to kill" him as prison guards did not respond to his call.

In November, the country's justice ministry released footage of the former president being dragged by the floor by prison guards during his forcible transfer from prison to a prison hospital.

Amnesty International has branded Saakashvili's treatment "not just selective justice but apparent political revenge".

The US State Department has urged Georgia's government "to treat Saakashvili fairly and with dignity".

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanded that the ex-Soviet nation's authorities "ensure his safety in prison, and provide him with appropriate medical care".

The ruling was delivered in November as part of an urgent interim measure that the ECHR applies "only where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm", the court said in a statement.

Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was arrested on October 1 shortly after he secretly returned to Georgia from exile in Ukraine.

His arrest exacerbated a political crisis stemming from parliamentary polls last year that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.

It also spurred the largest anti-government protests in a decade.

Rights groups have accused the Georgian government of using criminal prosecutions to punish political opponents and critical media.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili sparked an uproar recently when he said the government had been forced to arrest Saakashvili because he refused to quit politics.

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CHURCH & STATE

‘Georgia is now governed by Russia’: how the dream of freedom unravelled

Daniel Boffey in Tbilisi
Fri, 17 May 2024 

Protesters Ekaterine Burkadze and her nephew Paata Kaloiani: ‘We have to protect our republic and our peaceful future in the EU.’Photograph: Daniel Boffey/The Guardian


The army of riot police had finally retreated from Rustaveli Avenue, the broad thoroughfare in front of the parliament building, back into the barricaded parliamentary estate.

The last hour on the streets of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, had been violent. Snatch squads had grabbed protesters as officers, beating their shields with truncheons, surged forward to push the chanting crowds away from the graffiti-scrawled, imposing parliament building.

It was Tuesday afternoon and the MPs inside needed to get out after passing the hated “foreign agents” law – which they did. But the police retreat, under a light shower of plastic bottles and eggs, was raucously cheered nonetheless. Then the crowd started to sing: “So praise be to freedom, to freedom be praise.”

It was the Georgian national anthem, Tavisupleba, or Freedom, a bitter sweet reminder to some of the older protesters of a time of great promise – and disappointment.

Tavisupleba, composed by Zacharia Paliashvili, was adopted in May 2004, along with Georgia’s new national flag and coat of arms. They were symbols of a new era after the non-violent Rose revolution swept away the corrupt Soviet hang-over administration of President Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet minister of foreign affairs.

If then there was hope, now there is anger. The significance of the “foreign agents” law may seem arcane to those outside Georgia, but for those on the streets it is an attempt to smear dissenting western voices as traitors.

Civil society organisations and media receiving more than 20% of their revenues from abroad will have to register as “organisations serving the interests of a foreign power”.

The legislation is said to be part of an unravelling of all that has been achieved, albeit in fits and starts, since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“Georgia has been protesting for 30 years,” said Ekaterine Burkadze, 45, as protesters’ horns sounded in the background and the rain fell. “But in the beginning they all seem more or less acceptable.”

Two decades ago it had been Mikheil Saakashvili, a US-educated and media-friendly ally of the west, leading the revolution. He became president with 96% of the vote but the support was genuine.

In his first term, his anti-corruption zeal and determination to bring Georgia closer to Nato and the EU won him accolades at home and abroad, and impressive economic growth.

By the second term, however, international monitors and domestic NGOs were warning of the growth of a kleptocracy and creeping authoritarianism. Saakashvili’s zeal and purpose, which had been so attractive, started to wear thin.

“The reforms were very top-down and they had to be fast,” said Ghia Nodia, who served as the minister of education and science in Saakashvili’s cabinet in 2008. “The idea was we don’t have too much time. There was a concentration of power and, of course, Saakashvili is a power junkie, if you will, and there was really no opposition.”

Related: The ‘foreign agents’ law that has set off mass protests in Georgia - podcast

Well-intended policies were executed in a manner that would store up long-term political problems.

Saakashvili wanted to reform Georgia’s universities, which were “rotting and corrupt”, said Nodia. Rectors were appointed by the ministry of education, academics forced to reapply for their jobs and institutions merged, all in a two-year frenzy.

The universities’ autonomy was restored but many intellectuals and opinion makers had been thoroughly disillusioned.

Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, after a confrontation between Tbilisi and Moscow over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, appeared on the face of it to replenish Saakashvili’s political stock.

When he announced a ceasefire after five days of conflict he was cheered by those who, a year earlier, had taken to the streets calling for his resignation.

But Russia continued to occupy 20% of Georgia. Saakashvili’s apparent disregard for upsetting Moscow would come to be portrayed by the opposition Georgian Dream party as reckless.

Then there was a major domestic scandal. Video footage emerged on the eve of the 2012 election, broadcast by the opposition-supporting channel TV9, that appeared to show a half-naked prisoner weeping and begging for mercy as two guards kicked and slapped him, before raping him with a broomstick.

Saakashvili called the incident “a horrific affront to human rights and dignity” and vowed to bring the guilty to justice.

Related: ‘We are very strong’: Georgia’s gen Z drives protests against return to past

The scandal spoke to a perception in Georgia that what had started as a “zero tolerance” approach to crime had warped into something far more sinister.

The mysterious billionaire and leader of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who had made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, issued a statement condemning “these acts of torture by the Georgian government”.

In the election, Ivanishvili’s party swept to victory on a platform that promised to restore civil rights and reset relations with Moscow while pursuing EU membership.

Saakashvili accepted the voters’ decision, in the first peaceful democratic transition of power in Georgian history.

More ominously, the Kremlin welcomed the result. Few saw the creeping danger.

David Katsarava, 46, is in hospital requiring surgery for fractured cheek bones after a brutal beating by riot police during the violent hour on Tuesday before the national anthem was sung.

He is well known in Georgia for his work monitoring the “line of occupation” between Georgian-held territory and where Russian troops now sit.

Katsarava supported Georgian Dream in 2012. “We thought that with the changing of this government we can come back again in the right direction,” he said. “This was a big, big mistake. Nowadays, we see that Georgia is governed by Russian government.”

The story of the past 12 years has been of Georgia talking up its prospective membership of the EU while pursuing incompatible policies – and getting away with it, he said.

Nodia, who today runs a thinktank, said it was after 2018 – when it had briefly appeared that Georgian Dream’s preferred presidential candidate, and eventual winner, Salome Zourabichvili, might lose – that the Georgian government turned.

“I think Ivanishvili believed that the west was behind it,” Nodia said. “Ultimately, he wants to stay in power.”

Anti-western groups, some on the far right and not formally associated with Georgian Dream, started targeting the government’s critics in the streets or at protests.

Saakashvili, who had left Georgia shortly after the election, was convicted in absentia in 2018 for abuse of office and sentenced to six years in prison. He was arrested on his return three years ago and remains in detention.

Giorgi Kandelaki, who was an MP in Saakashvili’s United National Movement party, said the reset in US-Russian relations under the then US president Barack Obama provided the context for what has happened, with the west willing to accept Georgian alignment with Moscow – all the way up to the Ukraine war.

“Ivanishvili had been saying all these things for years, but no one wanted to listen,” Kandelaki said.

It was only when Russia invaded Ukraine that the Georgian government had to pick a side – declining to join the west in imposing sanctions. Even then, it was granted EU candidate status in December.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign minister, who was in Tbilisi this week, conceded the EU was culpable in “managing the decline”.

“I’ve been here before,” Landsbergis said. “We were saying the same things about electoral law, about the way judges are appointed, about so many things, and no steps were taken. It was escalating and we didn’t meet that escalation.”

Back among the protesters, Burkadze and her 21-year-old nephew Paata Kaloiani are facing many more days and nights on the streets. “We protested at the Rose revolution, we protested against Saakashvili. Now we are here,” she said. “We have to protect our republic and our peaceful future in the European Union”.



VIPER AT THE NATION'S NECK

Thousands mark Family Purity in Georgia as anti-govt protests simmer

Reuters
Fri, 17 May 2024 





People mark Day of Family Purity in Tbilisi


TBILISI (Reuters) - Thousands of Georgians led by Orthodox Christian clerics marked "Family Purity Day" on Friday, marching down the same central avenue in Tbilisi that has been the scene of some of the fiercest anti-government protests in the country's history.

The contrasting groups staging the marches - pro-Orthodox and conservative on one side and pro-European on the other - spotlight the deep divisions within Georgian society as it grapples with an unprecedented political crisis.

For over a month, thousands of protesters, many of them young people, have filled Tbilisi's streets on a near-nightly basis to voice their opposition to a draft law on "foreign agents" they condemn as authoritarian and Russian-inspired.

The United States and the European Union have repeatedly warned the ruling Georgian Dream party to drop the bill, which protesters fear will harm the South Caucasus country's bid to join the European Union.

Dozens of rallygoers have been arrested or hospitalised since mid-April after police deployed water cannon and fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades to disperse the crowds.

By contrast, Friday's march received the tacit support of Georgian Dream, whose leading members including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze took part.

Declared an official government holiday this year, the "Day of Family Purity and Respect for Parents" celebrates what the Georgian Orthodox Church calls the country's "family values" of marriage between a man and a woman.

LGBTQ rights are a contentious topic in Georgia, a traditionally Orthodox Christian country of 3.7 million.

Georgian Dream introduced a bill in March that would ban sex changes and adoption by same-sex couples, among other restrictions, a move seen by opponents as an attempt to boost its popularity ahead of elections later this year.

The Church began marking "Family Purity Day" in 2014, one year after an LGBTQ rights rally in Tbilisi was violently dispersed by crowds led by priests and conservative groups. May 17 is commemorated in many countries as the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

On Friday, throngs of mostly families and elderly people paraded down Tbilisi's streets, brandishing Orthodox icons and Georgian flags.

Outside parliament, where just a few days ago protesters were led away by police, people queued for their turn to kiss a large icon held aloft by a priest clad in black robes.

"Today is a great day," said marcher Zviad Sekhniashvili, dressed in the traditional garb of Caucasian highlanders.

"Family is our fortress... That's why God created man and woman: to have a family, to have kids."

Other holidaymakers said they saw family as linked to the concept of the Georgian nation.

"Family is like a little state," a woman who gave her name as Mariam said. "If our family is good, it's good for the country."

(Reporting by Reuters in Tbilisi; Writing by Lucy Papachristou in London; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Russian diplomat labels European foreign ministers ‘US agents’ for marching with protesters in Georgia

Leonid Martynyuk
POLYGRAPH

Demonstrators gather at the Parliamentary building during an opposition protest against the foreign agent bill in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Tuesday, May 28, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Dmitry Polyanskiy

Deputy Russian Ambassador to the United Nations

"Nothing extraordinary – foreign (US) agents are leading the demonstrations abroad against the law on foreign agents."

Source: X, May 15, 2024

MISLEADING

On May 28, Georgian lawmakers overrode a presidential veto on the controversial “foreign agent” law fueling months-long mass protests in the capital Tbilisi. Critics saying the bill resembles Russia’s notorious foreign agent law, which the Kremlin uses to restrict press freedom and civil society. The law was introduced by the ruling Georgian Dream Party, which also controls the country’s legislature.

EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell warned in a post on X on May 28 that the foreign agent law “will impact Georgia's EU path” as it “is not in line with EU values.”

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on May 18 vetoed the law, as the opposition fears it could become a tool of political oppression in the hands of the governing party.

Addressing the protesters in Tbilisi on May 26, Georgia’s Independence Day, Zurabishvili said “the ghost of Russia” was standing between her nation and its Western allies, a partnership with which “is a true way to maintain our independence, peace and strength.”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who represents the ruling party and backs the foreign agent law, described the opposition and the president’s pro-Western policies as “betrayal.” Georgia faces “existential threats,” because of "series" of such "betrayals," he claimed in his Independence Day speech.

Kobakhidze’s rhetoric echoes the narratives of Russian propaganda and disinformation claiming that the United States, not the Georgian people, are driving the protests.



When a video appeared May 15 on social media, showing the foreign ministers of Latvia, Estonia, Iceland and Lithuania marching among the protesters in Georgia, a Russian diplomat seized an opportunity.

Deputy Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy reposted the video on X with a comment:

“Nothing extraordinary – foreign (US) agents are leading the demonstrations abroad against the law on foreign agents. We all recall the same picture in Ukraine and know how it ended and how Ukrainian interests were trampled on. Hopefully the Georgians have learned this lesson.”

That is misleading.

No U.S. representatives can be seen in the video, and it is unclear why Russia’s U.N. diplomat would potentially breach diplomatic protocol and label foreign ministers of four independent European nations as “US agents.”



As for who leads the protests in Georgia – the Georgian political opposition along with the president are leading the rallies.

The U.S. and other Western nations have publicly expressed support for the Georgian protesters and criticized the bill, citing its similarities with the Russian law, its conflict with EU values and potential negative effect on Georgia's status as a candidate country.

Russia claims these concerns are only a pretext to stage yet another “color revolution,” and Polyanskiy’s comment fits the typical Kremlin disinformation narrative for pro-democracy rallies worldwide.

Over the years, Russia has accused the United States of staging “color revolutions” in Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Ukraine, Hong Kong and throughout the Middle East and Africa.

The Kremlin criticizes the legitimacy of popular movements that advocate democracy, anti-corruption and reform, claiming that the United States is behind them. According to Moscow, human rights NGOs and independent media have neither freedom of action nor ambitions but are being manipulated and financed by the West.

In 2003, the series of nonviolent public uprisings in Georgia called the Rose Revolution forced veteran Communist Eduard Shevardnadze and his Citizens' Union of Georgia Party to resign from presidency and give up control over the country.

The new government of President Mikheil Saakashvili focused on building a democratic pro-Western Georgia, resolving secessionist conflicts with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and seeking NATO membership.

Moscow opposed the reforms and attempted to destabilize Georgia and topple Saakashvili.

In 2006, Russia introduced a sweeping embargo on Georgian agricultural products, including the most important of Georgia’s exports – wine. Moscow not only prohibited the import of Georgian wine but implemented confiscation and destruction of all Georgia-made products across Russia. Russian state TV broadcasted daily the footage of thousands upon thousands of bottles of Georgian wine bulldozed into the ground.

In the fall of the same year, Moscow began the mass deportation of Georgian citizens from Russia. It was common to hear people at the transportation hubs screaming “I am not Georgian!” while being dragged away by law enforcement. In 2014 the European Court of Human Rights ruled Russia’s deportation of the Georgians illegal.

In August 2008 Russian troops invaded Georgian territory, and after an eight day war Russia established full control over the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia, which make up 20% of Georgian territory.



Moscow’s active measures against President Saakashvili involved a massive disinformation campaign, portraying him as a U.S. “puppet” and trying to dehumanize and humiliate him.

Western media reported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s notorious animosity toward Saakashvili and credited the Kremlin for the reverse of Georgian foreign policy after Saakashvili’s departure in 2012.

Moscow supported the takeover by Russian-Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream Party in Georgia, followed by the country’s distancing from the West and returning to the Russian “sphere of influence.”

The U.S. condemned Georgia’s foreign agent law, saying its enforcement would jeopardize bilateral relations. On May 23, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced visa restrictions for Georgian officials involved in drafting and adopting the bill and those who participated in the use of violence against protesters.

Additionally, the chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Republican Representative Joe Wilson introduced legislation offering a significant boost of U.S. economic and security support to Georgia, if the authorities in Tbilisi abandon "the enactment of the recent Russian-style foreign agent legislation."