On March 7, 2023, mass protests took place in Georgia against the activities of the government. The formal reason was outrage against the adoption in the first reading by the Georgian parliament of the law “on foreign agents”, but potentially these protests could lead to more global changes.
Political scientist Mykola Davidyuk told Channel 24 about this. According to him, the EU is sending a clear signal to Georgia that it is necessary to decide on foreign policy, and citizens support the actions of the current government.
It's time to decide
Mykola Davidyuk said that the protests in Georgia showed the difference between the government and the population, who want to remind the authorities that 20% of the country is occupied by Russia. At the same time, the position of the government remains unclear.
According to the political scientist, the Georgian government either does not understand what is happening, or simply plays along with Russia.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has already announced that she will veto the law “on foreign agents”, but, according to Davidyuk, in Georgia, the parliament can bypass the president's veto. Nikolai Davydyuk is sure that the President of Georgia understands this, and if she really supported the protesters, she would join them.
“Revolution of Dignity” begins in Georgia
The political scientist noted that the current situation in Georgia is similar to the revolution in Ukraine in 2013-2014.
If in Ukraine we did it in 2014, and made the Orange Revolution in 2004, they did theirs in 2003. We will now pass our baton to them and help them make those democratic transformations,” Davidyuk said.
The political scientist is convinced that these protests can lead to a possible change of power, the release of Mikheil Saakashvili, as well as to certain processes in the Caucasus, which will respond in the Kremlin.
Protests in Georgia may lead to a change of power: watch the video
He recalled that Georgia was the first of the post-Soviet countries, except for the Baltic states, to say at least a word against Russia's imperial ambitions.
Nikolay Davidyuk believes that the Georgians are also tired of the impudent behavior of the Russians who fled in Georgia from mobilization. According to the political scientist, the Russians only behaved more or less adequately for the first 3 days, but then their impudent traits began to appear again, and they demanded service in Russian from the Georgians.
To this Moscow greed and snobbery that entered someone else's house, they threw dirty legs on the table and said to be served, because they are Russians, they arrived and were used to ruling here – they responded to this with protests, – Davidyuk said.
He noted that protests in all post-Soviet countries could lead to instability in the region and the collapse of the Putin regime.
What is known about the protests in Georgia: the main thing
- The Parliament of Georgia has approved in the first reading the bill “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, which repeats the Russian legislation on “foreign agents”.
- Two bills with the conditional name “On Foreign Agents” were submitted to the Georgian Parliament on February 26. Already on March 2, parliamentary committees – on foreign relations and defense and security – approved the bills in the first reading.
- This caused indignation among the Georgians, who went out to mass protests.
