Georgian Dream Chair Irakli Kobakhidze has accused the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of “financing revolution” in Georgia.
Mr Kobakhidze made his comment following the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) claimed members of the Belgrade-based group CANVAS (Center for Applied Non-violent Action and Strategies) was involved in trainings of youth activists to prepare for a “revolutionary scenario.”
PM Irakli Garibashvili said the aim of “destructive forces and enemies” was to “stir destabilization” and “open a second front in Georgia.”
“Everyone taking part in fulfilling these anti-state anti-national acts” will be punished to the maximum extent.
CANVAS members Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stojsic, and Slobodan Djinovic visiting Tbilisi to hold training in non-violent activism were interrogated by the SSG on Friday.
CANVAS has been contracted by the USAID’s Civil Society Development Program to conduct training for activists in Georgia.
"As it turns out, this is all funded by […] USAID, which should mean American aid, and I don't think it's American aid. We would certainly need to get an explanation as to why USAID funded such training, the direct goal of which was to prepare a revolution in Georgia,” Irakli Kobakhidze, GD Chair, stated later.
Referring to the Rose Revolution in 2003 and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2004 as exclusively negative phenomena, the SSG spokesperson also linked the CANVAS members to those events.
“The participants were told how to oppose the Georgian Orthodox Church, Government, and State Security Service of Georgia, and how to cause total unrest across the city, resulting in the revolution,” they stated.
Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stojsic, and Slobodan Djinovic were also questioned by the State Security Service officials amid their investigation, “at which point they [CANVAS representatives] tried to disguise the real reason for their stay in Georgia in order to avoid the expected criminal responsibility. It should be noted that their testimonies contradict the evidence obtained by the investigation and are contradictory in some details,” SSG claims.
SSG also presented covertly recorded video footage where Djinovic and Sikman are talking about activists with the training participants.
Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stojsic, and Slobodan Djinovic have already left Georgia.
The SSG declared on September 18 that “certain forces from abroad” were plotting to overthrow the Government in Georgia through a “Maidan-style” revolution.
Linking the plot, amongst others, with Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, the SSG said groups of fighters were being trained “at the Polish Ukrainian border.”
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