DISINFO: Artificial protests in Georgia cost the “Deep State” $1 million
SUMMARY
The "Deep State" has sufficient funds to bring 300 people daily to Rustaveli Avenue for $1 million a year and maintain an artificial wave of protests in Tbilisi.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative framing popular protests in Georgia as a Western-led attempt at a ‘colour revolution’ or a coup d'état, trying to discredit Georgia’s opposition and civil society organisations by framing them as foreign stooges. The article also promotes a conspiracy theory, not backed by evidence, about secret/global elites, namely a so-called Deep State in the US, acting and controlling institutions above elected powers. One goal of this narrative is to undermine democratic institutions by portraying decision-making as the realm of global elites with regular citizens having no real power.
There is no evidence to support the allegations of any foreign involvement in the protests in Georgia. What is currently occurring in Georgia is a popular protest involving citizens, opposition parties, and NGOs. The protests began after the 2024 elections, which were marred by electoral irregularities. Violations noted by local and international observers include a pre-election climate of fear and intimidation of civil society, the approval of the Foreign Agents Law, reports of vote-buying, breaches of voter privacy, physical confrontations, and controversial changes to election administration rules prior to the vote. These irregularities sparked demonstrations among ordinary citizens and civil society organisations.
On 28 November, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that Georgia would suspend EU accession talks for four years following the European Parliament's rejection of the country’s election results, which heightened the tension. Even the then-president joined the protests.
Pro-Kremlin outlets 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, Armenia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia, Hong Kong, to portray protest movements as aggressive actors who constantly prepare new coups.
Pro-Kremlin media have been warning for a long time of an upcoming ‘colour revolution’ in Georgia in order to pre-emptively shape the information space ahead of what were foreseeable and likely protests against the ruling party, already shaken by previous massive demonstrations against the so-called ‘Foreign Agents Law’. The topic was covered in detail in our analysis.
Read also EUvsDisinfo's articles on “Twists and turns: Georgian Dream rhetoric on the EU”, “Georgia: Resilience in action” and “Georgia: The next colour revolution?”.
See similar disinformation cases claiming that Events in Georgia are a provocation by the US and European political circles, that USAID is a provocateur of colour revolutions in the post-Soviet countries, that The EU is instigating protests among Georgia’s youth, that The EU plans to pay Georgian youth 120 euros per day for anti-government demonstrations, that EU wants to provoke new protests in Georgia, that USAID used Georgian NGOs to organise the revolution, that West is using every means to destabilise Georgia, that US, EU, pro-Western opposition and president tried to carry out a coup in Georgia, or that The protests in Georgia are reminiscent of the 2014 coup in Ukraine engineered by the West.