DISINFO: The US is preparing a colour revolution in Georgia
SUMMARY
The White House is extremely dissatisfied with the situation in Georgia on the eve of the parliamentary elections on 26 October and the Americans are preparing a “colour revolution” in Georgia. For this purpose, Georgian pro-Western NGOs are recruiting many volunteers to closely monitor the voting process. They are tasked with identifying and recording the “inevitable facts” of the authorities' use of administrative resources.
According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), at the “Tbilisi Maidan”, “evidence of falsifications” in the voting will be made public, the results of the elections will not be recognised, and a change of power will be demanded. Law enforcement officers will be provoked to use force against the protests.
At the same time, the Americans are working out in advance the options for a “ruthless” political and economic response to the “excessive” use of force by the authorities against “peaceful citizens”.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, pre-emptively framing any future protests in Georgia as a Western-sponsored colour revolution.
This claim is an attempt to discredit potential protests and justify repressive measures against them in light of the upcoming Parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 26th 2024. Human rights organisation Amnesty International has previously accused Georgia’s police of excessive use of force against overwhelmingly peaceful protesters.
Neither the US nor any other country is planning a forcible overthrow of the government in Georgia. No evidence is provided to support this claim.
The US State Department Spokesperson categorically denied a number of times Russian allegations that the US is planning a “colour revolution” or “Maidan in Georgia,” calling them completely false and absurd, instead emphasising US support for Georgia’s development and its struggle against Russian aggression.
Since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, pro-Kremlin media actively deployed disinformation narratives that the US, the EU, or even Ukraine are aiming to change power in Georgia and drag the country into the war with Russia, to open a ‘second front’ against Moscow and to ease the situation for Kyiv on the Ukrainian front.
The claims are groundless. The West is not interested in an escalation of the war. Neither the US nor the EU, nor Ukraine are pushing Georgia to open a second front against Moscow.
Pro-Kremlin outlets frequently falsely portray popular protests around the world as "colour revolutions" 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.
The 2024 protests in Georgia were not instigated by any foreign power, but were 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.
Read also EUvsDisinfo's articles on “Georgia: Resilience in action” and “Georgia: The next colour revolution?”
See similar disinformation cases claiming that The US plans a colour revolution in Georgia after October elections, that The US plans a colour revolution in Georgia after October elections, that The US is preparing a “Tbilisi Maidan” in Georgia, that The West is seeking a coup d'etat in Georgia, that US and EU wants to orchestrate Euromaidan-like scenario in Georgia at parliamentary elections, 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 or that West behind Georgia protests to turn the country into a second front against Russia.