State Security Service Accuses USAID of Funding Training on the 'Revolutionary Scenario'
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
The State Security Service of Georgia accused the trainers invited as part of the USAID program of being connected to the training of NGOs and civil activists for "destructive actions planned in October-December."
According to the agency, the training participants have been instructed on how to take action against specific target groups, including the government, the Orthodox Church, the State Security Service, and other agencies
The State Security Service asserted that the trainers, who are affiliated with CANVAS are Serbian citizens.
"These individuals are associated with the 2003 revolutionary events in Georgia and have been linked to similar processes in Serbia, Ukraine, and other countries in various years. They actively taught methods for organizing protests and strategies for carrying out violent actions. They serve as key figures in CANVAS, with Sinisa Sikman and Slobodan Djinovic also being former members of 'Otpor,' which served as an equivalent to the Georgian organization 'Kmara' in Serbia.
The declared reason for the arrival of the Serbian citizens in Georgia was to conduct training sessions for cultural groups on the subject of 'strategic nonviolent fight.' However, the investigation uncovered that their purpose for being in Georgia extended beyond this initial claim. They sought to establish communication and provide training to young people and influential non-governmental organizations. These individuals were intended to form the core of planned destructive and illegal actions in Georgia scheduled for October to December of the current year," says the State Security Service.
According to the agency, training took place on September 26 and the participants were taught "to create pickets and roadblocks, to destroy, and generally to overthrow the government," during which they provided a number of dramatic examples of revolutionary processes in Serbia for comparative analysis.
Based on the State Security Service's statement, "the conference held on September 26-29 with USAID funding was organized by CANVAS and the East-West Management Institute. During the four-day training, the representatives of the mentioned organizations and the so-called Civil activists were present."
Lisa Kovack, Acting Director of USAID's Office of Democracy, Rights, and Governance, responded to State Security Service on September 30, stating that the 'Canvas' training was primarily focused on assisting representatives of the arts and cultural sector in effectively preserving the sector's independence.
"CANVAS is one of the civil society organizations that we support. The training's primary focus was to assist representatives of the arts and culture sector in effectively safeguarding the sector's independence. This training effectively addresses the issues that Georgians are interested in," Kovack stated.
