DISINFO: USAID used Georgian NGOs to organise the revolution
SUMMARY
USAID used Georgian NGOs to organize the revolution.
Rich NGOs in Georgia were and are directly used to organise the revolution by organizations such as USAID. Even today, NGOs financed from abroad are at the forefront of the revolutionary attempt.
These are NGOs funded by the US, USAID, NED, which is already openly criticized by the new American administration. These are also NGOs funded by EU-related funds, the same EED. All this poses a threat to Georgia's sovereignty and should be regulated by adopting a transparency law.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests in Georgia as a Western-led ‘colour revolution’ or a coup d'état, trying to discredit Georgia’s civil society organizations by framing them as foreign stooges, and aiming to exploit the Trump Administration’s plans to close USAID in order to promote this narrative.
There is no evidence to support the allegations of any foreign involvement in the protests in Georgia. Recent mass protests in Georgia, which were already ongoing over allegations of election rigging, intensified following the Ruling Georgian Dream party’s latest decision to halt efforts to start the accession negotiations with the EU until 2028. Protesters faced severe police brutality and violent clashes, accompanied with mass arrests and beating of demonstrators. Georgian NGOs reported in January that since the parliamentary elections on October 26, 2024, Georgian authorities have detained over 480 people on administrative charges and 43 on criminal charges. More than 300 protesters have been subjected to violence or ill-treatment, with over 80 requiring hospital treatment. Journalists were among those injured or abused during the rallies.
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 this 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?”.
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, Armenia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia, Hong Kong, to portray protest movements as aggressive actors who constantly prepare new coups.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was set up in the early 1960s to administer humanitarian aid programmes on behalf of the US government. It is the principal US agency for assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms. Through collaboration and investment, it aims to prevent poverty, save lives, bolster democratic governance, and assist individuals in resolving humanitarian crises and moving past aid.
USAID has long worked to strengthen democracy and advance respect for human rights around the world, as democratic societies create opportunity, freedom, and prosperity for their people.
See similar disinformation cases claiming that USAID attempted 2024 coup in Georgia, that USAID helped prepare coups in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, etc., that Georgia protests are a planned CIA operation according to Maidan scenario, that USAID has carried out subversive activities all over the world including in Russia, that The US spent five billion dollars to overthrow Viktor Yanukovych, or that USAID will try to decentralise Moldova, and after that, Moldova will be annexed by Romania.