Georgians were deceived - they became victims of a Russian special operation

Under the leadership of oligarch Ivanishvili

Violent violence, attacks on non-governmental organizations, rigged elections, and refusal to engage with the West. Our good friends are Slovak journalists Mirek Toda and photojournalist Tomasz Benedikovich visited Georgia and talked with protesters.

We publish their impressions.

Three teenagers, Nino, Kato and Raul, aged 16, 14 and 16, go to the front of a large protest in the center of Tbilisi with smiles on their faces and a boisterous mood, despite being a little scared.

Ten days have passed since Georgians began protesting against billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's "Georgian Dream" government, which halted EU integration after the falsified ones parliamentary elections.

Three high school students rushed through a crowd of tens of thousands of people on the boulevard of the poet Shota Rustaveli to a group of policemen guarding the entrance to the parliament. The boys communicate with the security forces.

"They're very cool and cute," says sixteen-year-old Nino in proper English, carrying a red-and-white Georgian flag on her shoulders.

When police violence didn't help, the headlines — “Do your parents mind you being here? We ask."

More than the police, the protesters fear the aggressive men in black, who have brutally attacked journalists and opposition leaders in recent days.

To understand what is being said, we will have to go back ten years ago, to the Maidan, that is, to Kyiv's Independence Square.

When tear gas and arrests did not frighten people, Bidzina Ivanishvili's regime used "titusok". Look, friends, how popular our Vadik Titushko has become - ed.)

On the day when three friends Nino, Kato and Raul had a friendly conversation with the police, journalist Maka Chchiladze from "Pirveli TV" was beaten by men in black hoods.

This happened despite the fact that there were many police patrols nearby. They did not intervene and allowed the attackers to hide.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, too wrote about it in the social network Kh.

Georgia's former minister for integration with the EU and NATO, Alex Petriashvili, made it clear who was behind the violence.

"Ivanishvili's poverty hides under every mask. He is the one who beats journalists, politicians and peaceful citizens," says the politician, who was also arrested at one of the protests.

According to the ex-government official, the law on agents of foreign influence in Georgia was approved by the "Georgian Dream" government based on the Russian model. Petriashvili knows Bidzina Ivanishvili and his party very well. and today he is one of the biggest critics of the new regime.

It's for nothing the richest Georgian Bidzina Ivanishvili, who got rich in Russia, whom the opposition calls a Russian oligarch of Georgian origin, officially has only the position of honorary chairman of "Georgian Dream", nobody in Georgia doubts that he makes all important decisions in the country.

According to Petriashvili, the appearance of "aunties" could not have happened without his consent. "As well as the implementation of the law on foreign agents and, finally, the Prime Minister's statement on the termination of EU accession negotiations," a Georgian opposition politician who saw Bidzina Ivanishvili's political career gaining momentum told his Slovak colleagues.

After twelve years in power, he traded Georgia's EU integration for rapprochement with Russia, which waged war against Georgia in 2008 and de facto annexed its territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"The introduction of "titsushok" is very cruel and is connected with Ivanishvili's regime, which gave the go-ahead for the use of all repressive tools against the freedom-loving Georgian people. Numerous attacks on the mass media during the last ten days demonstrate his hatred for journalists who provide the real picture from Rustaveli Boulevard," the Georgian opposition politician is convinced.

Ivanishvili's media empire and politicians loyal to him claim that everything is fine and there are only a handful of people on the streets, and these are mostly radicals who attack brave police officers. "And we all see how every day the main street of Tbilisi is filled with crowds, and peaceful people become victims of police repression or hired thugs," says Petriashvili.

According to him, intolerance speaks for itself to the police. "Never before in the history of Georgia have 30 to 50 citizens stood on the streets every night. The more people they arrest and the more people they beat, the bigger the crowd will be. There will be protests not only in Tbilisi, but also in all major cities," he says.

According to him, Ivanishvili miscalculated and made mistake after mistake: despite mass protests, he achieved the adoption of the Russian law on non-governmental organizations. He is behind these elections, in which "Georgian Dream" falsified the election results. And recently, he canceled Georgia's pro-Western course.

According to Petriashvili, this is happening under the leadership of the Kremlin.

The deputy from the opposition, the head of one of the opposition parties, Georgy Vashadze, also speaks about the Russian special operation.

"We are witnessing a Russian special operation against Georgia under the leadership of Russian oligarch Ivanishvili," he claims. According to him, it was not by chance that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the only world leader who praised Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as a courageous politician right after the EU integration was suspended.

Together with three other opposition leaders, Vashadze called on the West to introduce tough sanctions against regime officials, including bribed judges, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and propaganda media in front of foreign journalists.

"They need to get access to their foreign accounts, so travel to the EU should be blocked, and Ivanishvili's system will gradually begin to collapse," he adds.

Alex Petriashvili

According to Petriashvili, the regime of the richest Georgian is built on two things — corruption and blackmail. "The Minister of Internal Affairs is his former bodyguard, the head of the security service managed his bank. Medical care is managed by a personal dentist. And about three hundred judges are under his influence," says the former minister of Euro-Atlantic integration.

He experienced this when he received a large fine from the judge for participating in a demonstration. However, corruption in the highest circles found an echo in the journalistic investigation about villas worth millions of dollars and offshore accounts that civil servants cannot normally have.

According to the ex-minister, if Ivanishvili is afraid of anything, it is Putin. "Remember "Novachok" and Skripal. Everything about Russian law or the cancellation of access negotiations is all instructions from Moscow. I am convinced of this," says Petriashvili.

In his opinion, only sanctions will be able to shake Ivanishvili's regime from within. "I'm not saying that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow they will start working, but gradually everyone will start to leave the sinking ship."

The chances that Russia will try to intervene are zero. "Look at Syria, where Russian troops are fleeing. Look at Abkhazia, where they rebelled against the sale of property to Russian citizens. The Russians are exhausted by the war against Ukraine, and according to estimates, they will have to send 80 very well-equipped soldiers against us," Petriashvili says.

According to him, the fear of war is pure propaganda. "This does not mean that one brigade will block the highway in Tbilisi and Georgia will surrender."

He is convinced that Ivanishvili miscalculated when he did not see the youth protesting in the streets. "This is no longer the Soviet mentality, as in Moscow and Minsk, where people are beaten, put in prison, and people disappear. No, every step of his government only increases the effect of the rolling snowball," he says.

"I believe there will be a breakthrough by Christmas." The fact that the Advent season has already begun was recently reminded by a new Christmas tree, which the mayor installed in front of the parliament in the midst of mass protests.

The deputy editor-in-chief of Newsky (Central Europe and Canada), the head of the V5 Media project communicated and contributed Maryna Kovalchuk