Investigative journalist Christo Grozev: Kremlin plans to interfere in Georgia’s elections
"If Russia's plans work, it will be the end of a free Georgia as we know it," Grozev warned.
Christo Grozev, investigative journalist known for his work with Bellingcat and current Head of Investigations at The Insider, warned that Russia has contingency plans in case ”Georgian Dream” is defeated in Georgia’s parliamentary elections on 26 October.
As noted by OC Media, Grozev said he had received hacked messages between employees from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) proposing ”radical measures” to ensure that Georgia does not become a ”new Armenia.”
Armenia, which has long had close relations with Russia, has seen those ties deteriorate in recent years following the 2018 Velvet revolution and Russian inaction in the Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia–Azerbaijan conflicts.
While the messages did not detail specific plans, Grozev said he assumed they might mirror that of the Belarusian scenario, in which Russia would ”conspire with the ruling party to declare an implausible mega-victory.”
As in the case of the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, such blatant electoral fraud would then likely lead to widespread protests that would be ”suppressed by an unprecedented repressive force,” Grozev said.
In order to make the suppression more palatable to Georgian society, the Kremlin might orchestrate the ”peaceful” return of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as part of a confederation government. However, Grozev said such a plan would be a ”trojan horse” that would ”forever subjugate Georgia to Russia.”
”If Russia’s plans work, it will be the end of a free Georgia as we know it,” he added.
Meanwhile, during the elections on 26 October, Georgian Dream Secretary General Kakha Kaladze said that “according to preliminary data received from the local election headquarters, the Georgian Dream is already guaranteed a firm majority in the Georgian parliament.”
Kaladze added that ”an unprecedentedly high turnout has been recorded, which leaves no chance of success for the radical opposition.”
Nonetheless, he still called upon voters to support Georgian Dream, which strives to ”protect the national interests of Georgia and the interests of every citizen of our country at any cost.”
Related:
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- Bloomberg: Russian intelligence infiltrated Georgian state institutions amid push for EU, NATO membership
- Georgia’s EU path “de facto halted” as European Council calls for democratic reforms
- European institutions halt contacts with Georgia’s government
- EU deplores Georgia’s “family values” laws, warns of discrimination risks
