DISINFO: The West is trying to stage a coup in Georgia
SUMMARY
Today Tbilisi is facing another attempt at a colour revolution, an attempt at a coup d'état. Let's hope that it will fail, just as the Western brazen attempts to destabilise Belarus and Kazakhstan failed before.
The Georgian authorities used to sympathise with the West. Georgia, having reduced its ties with the post-Soviet region in exchange for promises of European integration, has largely deprived itself of strategic depth, but the country’s authorities realised the harmfulness of such a policy.
The ruling party "Georgian Dream" has distanced itself from the ultra-liberal agenda and stood up for protecting national interests, traditions and values.
But the West never lets its victims go so easily.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Georgia in the context of the 2024 parliamentary elections, framing any protests following the election as a Western-sponsored colour revolution or a coup, ultimately aimed at dragging the country into the war with Russia.
The 2024 Parliamentary elections in Georgia were marked by serious irregularities and alleged large-scale fraud schemes, which led to many, including the President of Georgia, the opposition and civil society organisations, rejecting the official results. Violations noted by local and international observers contain a pre-election climate of fear and intimidation of civil society, including the passage of the Foreign Agents Law, reports of vote-buying, violations of voter privacy, physical altercations, and controversial changes to election administration rules before the vote. See also the Joint Statement by the former High Representative Josep Borrell and the European Commission on the Parliamentary elections.
The topic was covered in detail in this analysis.
Since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, pro-Kremlin media actively deployed groundless disinformation narratives that the US, the EU, or even Ukraine are aiming to overthrow the ruling powers in Georgia and to disrupt Georgia's relations with Russia, possibly even through a ‘second front’ against Moscow.
Pro-Kremlin media frequently falsely portray popular protests around the world as instigated from abroad, often by the US and the West. The disinformation narrative has been applied, among others, to reports about protests in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia, Hong Kong, with the aim of portraying protest movements as aggressive actors who constantly prepare new coups.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that US is planning to sacrifice protesters to change power in Georgia, that The US plans to change power in Georgia through protests to be blamed on Russia, that West plans to orchestrate Georgia maidan, install government to confront Russia, that the West is behind Georgia protests to turn the country into a second front against Russia, that The US wants to use Georgia to open a second front of the war against Russia, that Georgia protests are a planned CIA operation according to Maidan scenario, that The CIA is preparing a coup in Georgia, or that The West aims at bringing an anti-Russian government to power in Georgia.