Relations between Washington and Georgia are crumbling after lawmakers in the former Soviet republic passed a controversial law on “foreign agents.”
The United States is setting the stage for a Ukraine-style coup in Georgia by fomenting protests ahead of parliamentary elections this fall because it is angered by the country’s efforts to pursue an independent policy, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.
In a statement on Monday, the SVR, citing available intelligence, claimed that the White House was “extremely dissatisfied” with the situation in Georgia as the “Washington-controlled opposition remains fragmented” despite American efforts to consolidate it ahead of the election scheduled for October 26.
According to the agency, the US fears that this will provide ample opportunity for the ruling Georgian Dream party to continue its sovereign course while resisting Western demands that run counter to national interests.
To counteract this development, the US wants to increase pressure on the Georgian leadership and, among other things, impose sanctions against members of the ruling party as well as their family members and sponsors, according to the SVR.
At the same time, the US is preparing a “color revolution” in Georgia, the agency said. Local NGOs allied with the West are recruiting additional election observers to monitor the election. They will then accuse the Georgian ruling party of electoral fraud.
“At the ‘Tbilisi Maidan’ they want to reveal ‘evidence of electoral fraud’, refuse to recognize the election results and demand a change of power. Law enforcement agencies are being provoked into using force to suppress the protests. At the same time, the Americans are working out options for a ‘stunning’ political and economic response to the ‘excessive’ use of force by the authorities against ‘peaceful citizens’,” the SVR said in a statement.
Relations between Georgia and the West, particularly the United States, deteriorated after Georgia passed a controversial “foreign agent” law that requires nonprofit organizations, media outlets and individuals who receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as entities that “promote the interests of a foreign power.”
While its supporters argue that it will contribute to greater media transparency, its critics call it “Russian law” because of its similarities to the law passed by its neighboring country in 2012. However, both laws are in many ways based on the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938.
US President Joe Biden said earlier this month he was “disappointed” with the law, which he described as “undemocratic”. The US State Department has also announced visa restrictions for individuals “who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, and their family members”.
(RT.com)
