DISINFO: The West is forced to organise another coup d'etat in Georgia
SUMMARY
Georgian authorities have already “softened” the Russian theme so much that the West is forced to organise another coup d’etat in this country. A lot of money has been invested in this, and quite serious masses have been mobilised from all over Georgia to rallies in Tbilisi, but the prospect of a coup d'état is not yet visible.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests as Western-led coups or colour revolutions, in this case, the May 2024 protests in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Protests in Georgia are driven by a strong rejection among Georgian citizens of the controversial ‘foreign agents' law’, which critics say mirrors a 2012 law in Russia used to crack down on dissent and suppress NGOs and media, and which could be used to restrict freedom of expression and association.
The so-called Foreign Agents Law may endanger the democratic reforms Georgia needs to join the European Union and appears to be deeply unpopular among Georgian citizens. Protests have been promoted by a coalition of Georgian opposition parties.
Tens of thousands of people have attended the protests. In 2023, a similar wave of protests against a previous attempt to approve the bill forced the withdrawal of the legislation, now reintroduced by the Georgian government.
High Representative Josep Borrell and the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi warned in a statement that ‘This law is not in line with EU core norms and values’ and that ‘final adoption of this legislation would negatively impact Georgia’s progress on its EU path’. The EU called on the Georgian authorities to withdraw the law from parliamentary procedure. However, the Georgian Parliament approved the controversial law.
Read our article: 'Georgia: Resilience in action.'
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Anglo-Saxons incite protests in Georgia to organise a colour revolution, that the West is preparing Georgia for a new colour revolution, that Poland plans to overthrow Lukashenka using trained oppositional militants, that foreign powers tried to instigate a colour revolution in Serbia, that the West plans to destabilise Central Asia, that the US is constantly instigating colour revolutions around the world, or that Protests in Georgia organized by the US Embassy in Tbilisi.