Georgia’s prime minister doubles down on anti-western rhetoric
As western governments condemn a police crackdown on protesters in Georgia, the country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has repeated conspiratorial narratives and lashed out at the United States – while attempting to draw a parallel between police action in Georgia and police action on US college campuses.
Georgia’s government has been pushing a ‘foreign agents’ law which critics say is anti-democratic and inspired by Russia.
Protesters have been taking to the streets to urge the bill to be withdrawn and call for Georgia to stay on the path toward western integration. The US and European governments, meanwhile, have warned Georgia’s leadership that the bill – and police violence against protesters – are jeopardising the country’s future prospects.
In a post on social media this morning, the Georgian prime minister said he spoke with Derek Chollet, the Counselor of the US state department and “expressed my sincere disappointment with the two revolution attempts of 2020-2023 supported by the former US Ambassador and those carried out through NGOs financed from external sources”.
The bill would require groups such as NGOs receiving more than 20% of their funding from outside Georgia to register as foreign agents.
He accused American diplomats of making “false statements” and “clarified to Mr Chollet that it requires a special effort to restart the relations against this background, which is impossible without a fair and honest approach”.
“I have not expressed my concerns with Mr Chollet about a brutal crackdown of the students’ protest rally in New York City,” Kobakhidze added.
Spoke to @CounselorDOS and expressed my sincere disappointment with the two revolution attempts of 2020-2023 supported by the former US Ambassador and those carried out through NGOs financed from external sources. Had these attempts been successful, the second front line would…
— Irakli Kobakhidze (@PM_Kobakhidze) May 3, 2024
Key events
Germany says Russians behind ‘intolerable’ cyber-attack last year
Lisa O’Carroll
Germany has said it has evidence that Russian state-sponsored hackers were behind an “intolerable” cyber-attack last year in which several websites were knocked offline in apparent response to Berlin’s decision to send tanks to Ukraine.
The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said a federal government investigation into the 2023 cyber-attack on the Social Democrat party (SPD) – part of Germany’s governing coalition and the party of chancellor Olaf Scholz – had just concluded.
“Today we can say unambiguously [that] we can attribute this cyber-attack to a group called APT28, which is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia,” she told a news conference during a visit to Australia. “In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyber-attack on Germany, and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”
Read the full story here.
Michael Roth, chair of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, said this morning “Georgian people are fighting for all of us. Freedom and democracy will win!”
Unity is key! We’re all committed to European values.
Georgian people are fighting for all of us. Freedom and democracy will win!
🇬🇪 🇪🇺 🇲🇩 🇪🇺 🇩🇪 🇪🇺 https://t.co/yCZDGYPn4c
— Michael Roth – official 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@MiRo_SPD) May 3, 2024
In a joint statement yesterday, a group of members of the European parliament said they are “deeply worried about the situation in Georgia” and “condemn the violence against peaceful protesters and opposition politicians.”
David McAllister, Marina Kaljurand and Sven Mikser said they “have already expressed our concern about the re-introduction of the controversial draft law, which is an attack on independent media and civil society organisations.”
“If adopted, this law will jeopardise Georgia’s progress on the EU path. We call on the Georgian leadership to withdraw the draft law and concentrate their efforts on reforms necessary for the accession to the EU and NATO,” they added.
Tens of thousands of people protested in Georgia last night, continuing a series of demonstrations against a controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill.
Georgia’s prime minister doubles down on anti-western rhetoric
As western governments condemn a police crackdown on protesters in Georgia, the country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has repeated conspiratorial narratives and lashed out at the United States – while attempting to draw a parallel between police action in Georgia and police action on US college campuses.
Georgia’s government has been pushing a ‘foreign agents’ law which critics say is anti-democratic and inspired by Russia.
Protesters have been taking to the streets to urge the bill to be withdrawn and call for Georgia to stay on the path toward western integration. The US and European governments, meanwhile, have warned Georgia’s leadership that the bill – and police violence against protesters – are jeopardising the country’s future prospects.
In a post on social media this morning, the Georgian prime minister said he spoke with Derek Chollet, the Counselor of the US state department and “expressed my sincere disappointment with the two revolution attempts of 2020-2023 supported by the former US Ambassador and those carried out through NGOs financed from external sources”.
The bill would require groups such as NGOs receiving more than 20% of their funding from outside Georgia to register as foreign agents.
He accused American diplomats of making “false statements” and “clarified to Mr Chollet that it requires a special effort to restart the relations against this background, which is impossible without a fair and honest approach”.
“I have not expressed my concerns with Mr Chollet about a brutal crackdown of the students’ protest rally in New York City,” Kobakhidze added.
Spoke to @CounselorDOS and expressed my sincere disappointment with the two revolution attempts of 2020-2023 supported by the former US Ambassador and those carried out through NGOs financed from external sources. Had these attempts been successful, the second front line would…
— Irakli Kobakhidze (@PM_Kobakhidze) May 3, 2024
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