Demonstrations in Georgia: Moscow denounces an “attempt” of a coup

The Russian presidency has said that it sees in the mobilization the hand of the United States trying to provoke anti-Russian sentiment.

After three days of demonstrations by tens of thousands of people, sometimes punctuated by violence, the Georgian Parliament finally revoked this bill on Friday, as the government had promised the day before, which had also announced the release of all those arrested on Tuesday. and Wednesday.

This protest movement illustrates the political crisis that has been agitating for several years in Georgia, a Caucasian country candidate for theUE, where part of the population fears an authoritarian drift on the Russian model.

The draft law on “foreign agents” is seen by many as a copy of a Russian draconian law. (File photo)

Photo : AP / Zurab Tsertsvadze

The demonstrators and the opposition also compared the abandoned bill to a text in force in Russia on the foreign agents and used to silence opponents in the Kremlin.

Concretely, the text planned to classify as foreign agents NGOs and media receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad, under penalty of fines.

For Moscow, mobilization is a pretext to launch an attempt at regime change by forcesaid Friday the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov.

He compared the protests to the 2014 revolution in Ukraine, seen by Moscow as a coup plotted by the West that has supported Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion for a year.

And sentiment antirusse

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov previously attacked Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili – a pro-Western critic of the government but with limited powers – pointing out that she had hailed her as a victoire the announcement of the withdrawal of the text not from Georgia, but from America.

Thousands of people demonstrated in Georgia against a controversial “foreign agents” bill, denounced by government critics as a tool of intimidation against the media and NGOs. A report by Tamara Alteresco.

It is therefore a sign that someone’s clearly visible hand seeks to provoke anti-Russian sentimentsaid Mr. Peskov, in an accusation clearly aimed at Washington.

It’s been more than two centuries [que les Russes] attack, that they attack, that they occupy the territories of sovereign countries. […] What matters is what the people of Georgia meant when they took to the streets once againsaid Friday on the LCI channel Ms. Zourabichvili, from New York.

We already have Russian troops at home […] this did not prevent Georgia from remaining independent and continuing its path towards Europe […]. Nothing can stop usshe continued, hammering that it is the only path that exists for a sovereign and independent Georgia.

The West welcomes the withdrawal of the bill

In the evening, the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, gave his support to President Zurabishvili and assured her that Germany supported Georgia on the way to Europe. This path includes freedom of the press and civil societyhe added.

The White House, whose national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the Georgian president in the morning, said Washington greeted the decision of the Tbilisi government to withdraw the bill. The US official also called on Georgia to respect the sanctions imposed by some 30 countries on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.Sullivan stressed that Georgia should avoid being used to evade or compensate for sanctions”,”text”:”Sullivan stressed that Georgia should avoid being used to evade or compensate for sanctions”}} “>Sullivan stressed Georgia must avoid being used to evade or offset sanctionsunderlines a press release from the American executive.

Previously, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had denounced very strong pressure weighing on Georgia, traversed by worrying movementsand desired an easing of regional tensions.

The announcement of the withdrawal of the controversial bill was welcomed Thursday by Washington and the European Union.

Georgia’s President Salome Zurabishvili attends a rally in support of the country’s European Union membership in Tbilisi, Georgia, in June 2022.

Photo: Archyde.com / Irakli Gedenidze

Georgia, a former Soviet republic defeated in a short war against Russia in 2008, officially aims to join the European Union and NATO. But the imprisonment of Georgia’s ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili at the end of 2021 and several recent controversial moves by the ruling party have cast doubt on his pro-Western aspirations.

Mr. Saakachvili rented the shining resistance protesters against brute force used against them. He targeted a former prime minister, Bidzina Ivanichvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia before creating the ruling party, Georgian Dream, at the origin of the controversial text.

No Russia with its brutal oligarch is able to defeat themhe proclaimed on Facebook.

After the rejection of the text by the Parliament in second reading, nearly 300 demonstrators, according to a correspondent ofAFPgathered peacefully in front of Parliament on Friday, with a light police presence.

The Georgian people have prevailed and will continue to fight for their European futurerejoiced Saba Meourmishvili, a 20-year-old student, in the midst of demonstrators waving signs We are Europe. We must continue to pressure Georgian Dreamhe pleaded with AFP, saying he wanted preserve peace and freedom.