Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke about the European Union’s “destructive policy” in the South Caucasus and claimed that Brussels is punishing Georgia “for attempting to defend its sovereignty.”
As an “example” of the Georgian opposition allegedly taking directives from Brussels, Zakharova cited an unverified letter first published by PrimeTime and later widely circulated by other pro-government media outlets and Georgian Dream. The letter supposedly claimed that activists received the text announcing a November 28 protest from Brussels.
“We took note of a copy of the letter, published by Georgian media on November 13 at 15:00, purportedly from an ‘EU high official,’ containing anti-government statements intended to mobilize freedom-loving citizens concerned with Georgia’s interests to another protest. Within ten minutes, one opposition member in front of the Parliament read the text word-for-word in Georgian, allegedly received from Brussels. This illustrates the matter of ‘puppet rulers’ and why laws on ‘foreign agents’ in third countries provoke EU anger. They [the EU] are exposing the mechanisms of EU and NATO operations in other states’ spheres, which they have no right to do,” Zakharova said at a press conference on November 20.
According to her, Western powers are not “guiding” Georgians to support any coalition or person, but “solely because the people of this state have decided to live under their own laws.”
“Meanwhile, political forces representing Western interests are allowed to do anything—naturally, in exchange for large amounts of money they receive. Overall, what is happening in Georgia allows us to draw an important conclusion: the more concessions the country makes to the West, the more its appetite grows,” Zakharova added.
For context, on November 13 at 15:00, PrimeTime published an English-language text of the statement read by civic activists during a briefing at Parliament, which announced a protest on November 28 marking one year since Kobakhidze’s statement rejecting negotiations with the EU. The outlet claimed that the document was sent from Brussels by specific EU officials to the local opposition.
The PrimeTime text had no author, no logo, no stamp, and no sending date, and nothing confirms that it was actually sent from Brussels rather than typed in English in a Word document in Tbilisi.
Nevertheless, based on this text, other pro-government media outlets and Georgian Dream claimed that the opposition and civic organizations were following EU orders, without the ability to change a single word. Politicians and activists denied the PrimeTime claims, stating that many people worked on the announcement, it circulated in multiple chat groups, and it appears that the State Security Service obtained and translated it into English.