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Georgia’s messages sent abroad

By Malkhaz Matsaberidze
Wednesday, January 27
Last week the opposition and the government continued with the controversy over entering the parliament. In regard to this controversy we should also consider messages sent abroad, including Bidzina Ivanishvili’s alleged leaving of the politics or prospects of Georgia entering NATO.

Bidzina Ivanishvili’s leaving stayed a popular topic for the opposition to discuss. If in the first days they were interested whether he really left or not, now they made sensational statements about the reasons for his leaving, which they connected with the events going on in the US. This was caused by an investigation which began in the US: FBI will have to reveal which foreign governments and organizations attempted at retaining Trump’s government. This was topped with sanctions against those Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs who were directly affiliated with Russia’s intelligence services.

The opposition doesn’t exclude that as a result of the investigation, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s role in this will be revealed as well. Those opposing the government believe that Ivanishvili is afraid of the potential sanctions which explains why he would leave the politics and transfer all the money in his possession to the charity fund he owns. One of the first people to voice the opinion is the Labour Party leader Shalva Natelashvili. “Ivanishvili was expecting Trump to be elected for the second term” for him to continue ruling Georgia smoothly. According to Natelashvili, Ivanishvili was financing Trump's election campaign through his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whom he contacted through Shota Shalelashvili, a businessman in the 9th convocation of Georgia. The latter categorically denied the allegations, noting that he has had no connection to politics for the past year.

Mikheil Saakashvili also shares the opinion that Ivanishvili might be affiliated with Donald Trump. According to him, Vladimir Putin was interested in his victory and Ivanishvili was illegally finding Trump’s election campaign through Trump’s son-in-law. Saakashvili believes that Ivanishvili’s name will come up in the investigation process “as he had hired a series of lobbyist companies”. A part of the opposition claims the blame is exaggerated whereas the ruling team denies it categorically. Gia Volski thinks such a disinformation campaign aims at creating tension between the US and Georgian governments. Regardless, many experts have recently talked about how the new US government will be less comfortable for the Georgian Dream.

A special attention was paid to the statement of NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who says that Georgia’s membership in NATO is between Georgia and the alliance and that Russia will have no say in this. The statement coincided with the new Foreign Minister of the US Antony Blinken, saying that if Georgia meets all the criteria, NATO’s door will be open and there will be no risks of war with Russia for the alliance for letting Ukraine and Georgia in. The opposition then emphasized the importance of meeting NATO’s criteria and the government’s inability to develop in this direction. Other than the military, NATO places standards in other areas of importance as well, including economy and democracy.

The arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on January 17 provoked a backlash in Georgia as well, though it was more an assessment of Navalny and the Russian opposition than a protest. Navalny backed Russia's aggression against Georgia in 2008, as did Putin's second opponent, Khadarkovsky. Navalny had the same position on Ukraine when Putin annexed Crimea.Navalny is a Russian nationalist and is just as imperialistic as much of today's Russian society. Nevertheless, the opposition still expected a protest statement from the Georgian authorities over the arrest of Navalny, a staunch opponent of Putin.

Meanwhile, both the government and the opposition are waiting for how US-Georgian relations will change after Biden's inauguration. In this regard, Blinken recalls the statement made by Biden in September 2020 about Biden's foreign policy course: "Biden will strengthen NATO to meet the challenges in cyberspace and foreign affairs, and to help countries such as Georgia, Ukraine and the Western Balkans provide strong security."

The 46th President of the United States and his team are well aware of the problems of Georgia and the whole post-Soviet space in general. The opposition first of all expects the strengthening of support for democracy, which is crucial for Georgia.
(Translated from Georgian by Mariam Mchedlidze)