"Accusations against USAID are false and misrepresent the purpose of aid to Georgia" - U.S. State Department

U.S. State Department on accusations against USAID

U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel reacted to the statement of the Georgian State Security Service against USAID (United States Agency for International Development) at a daily briefing and said that the accusations are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the goals of the assistance.

“Let me pay special attention to USAID, which you just mentioned. Our embassy in Tbilisi has issued a very clear statement, and I will repeat it – the allegations against one of our aid projects are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the goals of our assistance to Georgia.

Our support, as always, is transparent. We will continue to support those Georgian organizations that are working to protect the fundamental rights guaranteed by Georgia’s constitution, as well as Georgia’s international aspirations and commitments.”

The U.S. State Department said on October 3 that its activities in Georgia are exclusively for humanitarian and democratic purposes. According to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, he was not aware of the accusations by the ruling Georgian Dream party and the Georgian SSG against USAID, but noted that the only intervention “we have in Georgia” is for humanitarian and democratic purposes.

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The Georgian State Security Service released details of the case against the organization CANVAS (Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies). According to the Georgian SSG, Serbian citizens Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stojsic and Slobodan Djinovic conducted trainings for representatives of non-governmental organizations for four days at the Ibis Hotel in Tbilisi on “how to overthrow the government, how to resist the police and organize a coup d’état”.

According to the Georgian State Security Service, the Serbian citizens arrived in Georgia on September 25, 2023, at the invitation of the East-West Governance Institute under the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) program. According to the State Security Service, Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stoisic and Slobodan Djinovic are linked to the organization of coups d’état in Serbia, Ukraine and other states, according to their own statement, they were related to the “Rose Revolution”.

The U.S. Embassy calls the Georgian State Security Service’s accusations false and says the embassy is ready to discuss any concerns with the Georgian government.

The CANVAS organization calls the accusations pressure and appeals to international organizations.

“Canvas Georgia regards the mentioned cases as pressure on the head of the organization, on activists who cooperate with the organization, receive education and spread knowledge about strategic non-violent campaigns,” the statement reads.

U.S. State Department on accusations against USAID

• ‘Humanitarian and democratic goals only’ – State Department responds to Georgia’s security allegations
• “Members of the CANVAS organization conducted training on overthrowing the government in Georgia” – Security Service

On the morning of September 18, the Security Service of Georgia issued a statement saying that the country wanted to repeat the scenario of the Ukrainian Euromaidan and forcibly change the government.

The authors of the coup plan were named:

• Giorgi Lortkipanidze, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, who was deputy interior minister under Saakashvili’s government;
• Mikhail Baturin, a former security guard of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili;
• Mamuka Mamulashvili, commander of the Georgian Legion fighting in Ukraine. During Saakashvili’s presidency, Mamulashvili was a member of his inner circle.

The Georgian SGB claims that Canvas Georgia is being used to prepare anti-government protests in Georgia, with the Serbian organization Otpor at the center of the whole process.

U.S. State Department on accusations against USAID