DISINFO: The US behind protests in Georgia
SUMMARY
Georgian political scientist revealed the reason for the protests in Tbilisi. According to the expert, everything that is happening is a consequence of regular American directives.
On Tuesday, thousands of people protested in Tbilisi over the adoption in the first reading of the Georgian version of the American law on foreign agents. However, political scientist Shota Apkhaidze believes that everything was planned in advance by the United States, which simply implemented their ideas through Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili.
RESPONSE
This is a common pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about lost sovereignty and independence, challenging Georgian statehood and portraying popular protests as instigated from abroad.
There is no evidence that the recent protests in Georgia were planned by the US to destabilise the country. Contrary to the allegations, massive protests erupted in Tbilisi after the Georgian parliament passed the first reading of a controversial bill that requires organisations receiving foreign funding to register as “foreign agents”. The draft law caused fears that it could impede Georgia’s hopes for closer ties with the European Union, following local and international criticism, including from the US, EU and its member states.
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, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia and Hong Kong with the aim of portraying protest movements as aggressive actors who constantly prepare new coups.