Over 25,000 NGOs are active in Georgia, and most rely on funding from Europe and the US. A new bill aiming to reign in Western meddling has sparked furious anti-government protests explicitly encouraged by Washington.
by Kit Klarenberg
Part 4 - Georgian Legion war criminals plan coup
Saakashvili ostensibly runs the UNM from prison in Tbilisi. Having fled Georgia and taken up residence in Ukraine as governor of Odesa at Petro Poroshenko’s invitation post-Maidan after losing power in 2012, he returned in October 2021. Upon arrival, he was jailed for ordering violent attacks on political rivals, and helping one of his ministers cover up a hideous murder they personally directed. President Zourabichvili has pledged she will “never” pardon the former leader.
Recent polls place the party’s public support at just 9.6% – significantly lower than Georgian Dream’s 31.4%. Despite his fading popularity, Saakashvili’s supporters appear determined to bust him out of prison, by hook or by crook. In September 2023, Georgian security officials warned “a coup a la Euromaidan” was being prepared locally. Named plotters included ethnic Georgians working for the Ukrainian government: Giorgi Lortkipanidze, Kiev’s deputy military intelligence chief; Mikhail Baturin, Saakashvili’s former bodyguard; and Mamuka Mamulashvili, commander of the notorious Georgian Legion.
Recent polls place the party’s public support at just 9.6% – significantly lower than Georgian Dream’s 31.4%. Despite his fading popularity, Saakashvili’s supporters appear determined to bust him out of prison, by hook or by crook. In September 2023, Georgian security officials warned “a coup a la Euromaidan” was being prepared locally. Named plotters included ethnic Georgians working for the Ukrainian government: Giorgi Lortkipanidze, Kiev’s deputy military intelligence chief; Mikhail Baturin, Saakashvili’s former bodyguard; and Mamuka Mamulashvili, commander of the notorious Georgian Legion.
Mamulashvili is centrally implicated in the February 2014 false flag sniper massacre of Maidan protesters in Kiev, Ukraine, which was pivotal in unseating President Viktor Yanukovych and installing a nationalist government primed for war with Russia. The Georgian warlord apparently brought the shooters to Kiev to create “chaos” by opening fire on crowds, providing them with weapons for the purpose. This time round, security officials said, anti-government activists, trained near Ukraine’s border with Poland, would set up a “tent city” in Tbilisi, much like the one erected in Kiev’s Maidan Square. Then, a false flag bombing would take place at the site, triggering mass violent upheaval.
Allegedly planned for some time between October and December 2023, the bloody plot never came to pass. Nonetheless, police discovered activists from a US government-backed group called CANVAS operating in Tbilisi at the time, suggesting something malign was indeed afoot. CANVAS grew out of Otpor, an NED-created dissident youth group instrumental in the overthrow of Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Thereafter, its activists began training regime change operatives the world over on Washington’s dime.
Among the recipients of CANVAS’ expertise were members of Kmara, a youth resistance movement at the forefront of the 2003 Rose Revolution, directly modeled on Otpor, logo and all. That event has shaped Georgia’s politics and society ever since, and looms large in the minds of many citizens, its historic connotations viewed both positively and negatively. Opposition MP Tako Charkviani undoubtedly knew precisely what she was doing when she forcefully promised a fresh color revolution in Tbilisi.
Among the recipients of CANVAS’ expertise were members of Kmara, a youth resistance movement at the forefront of the 2003 Rose Revolution, directly modeled on Otpor, logo and all. That event has shaped Georgia’s politics and society ever since, and looms large in the minds of many citizens, its historic connotations viewed both positively and negatively. Opposition MP Tako Charkviani undoubtedly knew precisely what she was doing when she forcefully promised a fresh color revolution in Tbilisi.
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