Against the backdrop of thousands of protests against the Russian Law on Foreign Agents in Georgia, the State Security Service has warned of the danger of "provoking events similar to the civil strife of the 90s."
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Based on the announcement made by the State Security Service (SSS) today, May 8, "certain groups of people are trying to organize provocations during the current rallies at the Georgian Parliament.
These actions are aimed at developing destructive and violent scenarios and are managed by funding from foreign countries,
as well as by leaders of specific parliamentary and non-parliamentary political parties and heads of non-governmental organizations. Georgian Citizens outside the country are actively involved in the mentioned criminal plans. In particular, a specific part of Georgians fighting in Ukraine declare their readiness to come to Georgia and actively participate in the planned violence against the police. These individuals are in active communication with their associates in Georgia and are discussing plans to block and paralyze the parliament, government administration, and other government buildings.
Individuals are actively discussing plans to attack a special task force if necessary, which could lead to a full escalation of the situation. To neutralize the special purpose squad and the police, the organizers of criminal actions instruct young people carrying protest charges, in many cases without revealing the real reasons, to bring easily flammable substances to the parliament. These substances will be used later to make the so-called Molotov cocktails. Additionally, they have been ordered to secretly bring stones and iron batons to the rally for use in confrontation with law enforcement officers,” SSS does not name specific persons.
In the statement by the State Security Service, it is also mentioned that the organizers of the actions, aiming to provoke mass disturbances and chaos among law enforcement agencies, are guided by instructions issued by foreign instructors. They actively use methods of violent training conducted by the organization CANVAS and Peter Ackerman, with the purpose of so-called Maidanization of the current processes and provoking events similar to the civil conflict of the 90s in the country.
“Certain politicians and radical organizers of the rally are considering definitively paralyzing Tbilisi's traffic junctions, blocking and barricading access roads to government institutions and strategic facilities, blocking the railway, setting up so-called tent cities on the central avenues, and blocking the deployment bases of law enforcement agencies.
For the implementation of the mentioned criminal plans, funds received from abroad are used. According to the State Security Service, in many cases, they use cryptocurrency to cover their tracks. At the end of April this year, training was held in Georgia by foreign instructors about transactions related to cryptocurrency. During these training sessions, the organizers of the action received instructions on how to secretly receive funding for radical actions.
In order to promote and achieve the success of the said criminal action, the organizers believe that the employees of the law enforcement agencies should be provoked. Moreover, even a single shot from the interested party will cause panic and a stampede, potentially resulting in serious injuries and casualties among the demonstrators. The organizers of the rally consider it desirable for the protests to lead to human casualties, as they believe these unfortunate results will increase the protest charge and radicalism. This is stated in the statement of the State Security Service (SSS).
On April 3, 2024, Georgian Dream once again initiated the Russian Law on Foreign Agents in parliament. This law had been withdrawn a year ago following thousands of protests, with a promise that it would never be adopted again. Attempts to re-enact the Russian Law were met with mass protests, which the authorities dispersed several times. The next demonstration is scheduled for May 11 at 19:00.
The State Security Service also issued a statement in October 2023 regarding expected revolutionary scenarios and plans to overthrow the government. At that time, the SSS claimed that a group of individuals operating in the territory of Georgia and beyond planned to organize destabilization and civil unrest in Georgia from October to December, with the ultimate goal of changing the government through violence.
