The same Western-controlled “opposition” leaders with the connivance of the U.S., EU and NATO are threatening the Georgian government over their joint asset Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in October 2021 after returning from Ukraine, where he had been appointed a top advisor by Volodymyr Zelensky, to spearhead a coup and in anticipation to open a second front against Russia. The background reports that follow the features from Agenda.ge, Civil Georgia and Rustavi2 were compiled by me. RR

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Agenda.ge
February 2023

President vows to veto bill on transparency of foreign influence if approved

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Tuesday pledged to veto the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, proposed by the People’s Power movement, if the draft law is approved by the country’s legislative body.

In her comments for the media during a gender equality political forum in Tbilisi, the President said the bill, submitted to the Parliament earlier this month, was “unacceptable” for her as it would “distance Georgia from Europe”.

Proposed by the movement, whose representatives remain in the Parliamentary majority despite having left the ruling party last year, envisages registration of “non-commercial legal entities and media outlets as agents of foreign influence if they derive more than 20 percent of their income from abroad”.

It has been met by a strong criticism from the domestic opposition, a part of the public and diplomatic representations in Georgia, with the backlash labelling the initiative as “incompatible with the basic principles of a modern democratic state”.

…United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan said “these laws seem to be clearly in line with Russian law” that could “undermine that progress that Georgia has spent so many years building”.

Civil Georgia
February 28, 2023

US State Department Spokesman Ned Price Again Criticizes the Draft Law on “Foreign Agents”

On February 27, US State Department spokesman Ned Price held a press briefing, in which he expressed concern about Georgia’s Russia-inspired law on “foreign agents,” which was endorsed by the ruling majority.

“So on the new law – and I think I’ve spoken to this before – we’re aware of the draft legislation in the Georgian parliament. We’re deeply concerned about its implications for freedom of speech and democracy in Georgia. We’ve expressed these concerns directly to the Government of Georgia now repeatedly, “ said Ned Price.

He added: “…we believe such a law could potentially undermine Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and the Euro-Atlantic aspirations….”

Rustavi2
February 27, 2023

On behalf of the 27 EU member states, Pawel Herczynski handed over a demarche to the Minister of Justice regarding Mikheil Saakashvili

Together with the ambassador of Sweden, handed over the official EU demarche to the Minister of Justice of Georgia, which concerns Mikheil Saakashvili. Such a statement made today the Ambassador of the European Union in Georgia.

According to Pawel Herczynski, all 27 member states of the EU agreed to this demarche in Brussels.

“Together with the ambassador of Sweden, which represents the country holding the presidency of the European Union, we delivered an official demarche to the Minister of Justice. The demarche refers to the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. We are very concerned about the reports of his deteriorating health. What is very important is that all 27 member states of the EU agree to this demarche….

The Minister of Justice provided us with information about what the Georgian government is doing to protect the rights of the former president, as an accused and a prisoner,” said the diplomat.

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2003: Eduard Shevardnadze, the former president of Georgia, blames American financier George Soros for organizing events he said led to the coup that deposed him. “This is his plan,” Shevardnadze said on the News of the Week program on the Rossia TV channel, according to a report by Novosti. He said Soros formulated “a whole concept how to hold elections so that new people come to the government, and how to found such organizations as in Yugoslavia.

“This is the plan of Soros. He provided for everything: how much money is necessary, what government organizations are reliable, with whom it is necessary to cooperate,” he said.

Shevardnadze, who said he wanted to stay in Georgia, reminded the audience: “You have driven him (Soros) away from Russia, and you were right. His behavior is not good. He should not poke his nose into politics in general.”

United Press International, December 1, 2003

2004: The Georgian president, prime minister, and speaker of the Parliament received monthly salary supplements of $1,500 each; ministers received $1,200 a month, and deputy ministers $700….

The program was funded initially by Mr. Soros’s OSI [Open Society Institute], which gave $1 million, while the UNDP [United Nations Development Programme] gave $500,000.

2005: In June [2005] George Soros [said]: “I provided for Georgian public servants to get $1,200 a month….And now I am ready to support the creation of a fund like this in Kyrgyzstan.” [Immediately following the so-called Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, modeled after and with the active connivance of organizers of the Serbian, Georgian and Ukrainian prototypes.]

Russian Information Agency Novosti, June 16, 2005

2005: As early as February, [then new Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Rosa] Otunbayeva pledged allegiance to a small group of partners and sponsors of the Kyrgyz revolution, to “our American friends” at Freedom House (who donated a printing press in Bishkek to the opposition), and to George Soros, a speculator who previously helped unseat Edward Shevardnadze’s government in Georgia.

Der Spiegel, April 4, 2005

2005: “I know it is a fact that the swindler Soros is an agent of Mossad [Israeli Foreign Intelligence Agency] and the CIA. Members of Saakashvili’s government are also financed by him and are the agents who are under the influence of Soros,”

According to the editorial, the United States is the real ruler of Eastern or New Europe and Washington is trying to eliminate any anti-globalization organization as it attempts to establish a ‘new, pro-American ideology.’ According to Akhali Taoba, Georgia, Ukraine, the Baltic Countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania and the Balkan states ‘are the main targets of Soros interests and America’s ‘New Europe’ as well,’ and Soros is fighting to push American interests at the expense of Russian and Chinese influence in the region.

The Messenger (Georgia), October 6, 2005

2006: Famous billionaire financier George Soros admitted during his Turkish trip that he has supported “colored revolutions” that occurred in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Soros cited Eduard Shevardnadze, then President of Georgia, as a reason of backing the revolution in the country.

He said Eduard Shevardnadze failed to keep his promises, although the latter was not further specified.

Daily Georgian Times, June 23, 2006

2006: As reported in Svovodnaya Gruzia, the Director of Open Society Foundation Georgia, Davit Darchiashvili, said the foundation has started the implementation of a special project to retrain unemployed former state officials and provides them with skills and assistance in seeking work.

Targeted at financing these projects, the Open Society Foundation Georgia is planning to create special credit funds together with other financial institutions.

The Messenger (Georgia), June 28, 2006

2007: A meeting with the representatives of non-governmental organizations and mass-media was held at the Ministry of Defence of Georgia today.

The association Justice and Liberty and the Open Society – Georgia Foundation (OSGF) are implementing a joint project with the Georgian Defence Ministry – Improvement of Public Relations of the Defence Ministry.

2008: Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mr. Soros’s OSI has concentrated much of its pro-democracy activities in former Soviet republics…with local leaders and their nationalist supporters pledging to sever ties with Moscow.

The Georgian president, prime minister, and speaker of the Parliament received monthly salary supplements of $1,500 each; ministers received $1,200 a month, and deputy ministers $700….The program was funded initially by Mr. Soros’s OSI, which gave $1 million, while the UNDP gave $500,000.

2008: [Nini] Gogiberidze is among Georgia’s “velvet” revolutionaries, a group of Western and local activists who make up a robust pro-democracy corps in this Caucasus country – so much of it funded by American philanthropist George Soros that one analyst calls the nation Sorosistan.

And she unflinchingly answers sensitive questions about her employer, the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies, or Canvas [formerly OTPOR]. The group is funded in part by the International Republican Institute, which many describe as the international arm of the GOP, and Washington-based Freedom House, which receives most of its funding from the U.S. government.

Some governments have grown increasingly wary about groups such as Canvas and others associated with Soros, and have clamped down. Authorities shut down Soros’ Moscow offices in 2003, seizing computers and documents.

2008: Russia’s confrontation with the West is escalating, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accusing the U.N. Development Program of collaborating with the financier George Soros to fund Mikheil Saakashvili’s rise to the Georgian presidency.

Russia has long accused Mr. Soros of financing the 2003 Rose Revolution, and Mr. Saakashvili in particular.

Yesterday, Mr. Lavrov called for an examination of the ties between Mr. Soros and the UNDP. “At the time, George Soros was sponsoring members of the Georgian government,” Mr. Lavrov told reporters, adding that UNDP “funds and finances” were also used to support Georgian officials.

“We should clearly check and establish clear rules for controlling the spending by international organizations,” he said. “We should not allow that such organizations be privatized.”

American officials have raised questions about the relationship between Mr. Soros’s Open Society Institute and the UNDP in the past. And as The New York Sun first reported in June 2006, a former UNDP administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, rented a house adjacent to Mr. Soros’s estate in Katonah, N.Y., paying the financier what real estate agents in the area characterized as below market rate rent.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mr. Soros’s OSI has concentrated much of its pro-democracy activities in former Soviet republics…with local leaders and their nationalist supporters pledging to sever ties with Moscow.

2012: After meeting PM Bidzina Ivanishvili a day earlier, billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros met President Saakashvili in Tbilisi December 2.

“The guest together with the President toured the service areas [of the Public Service Hall]. Mikheil Saakashvili and George Soros received services at Just Café….The guest also took a symbolic [Georgian] passport,” the President’s administration said in a press release.