Georgia

01.04.2022

"Ukraine is repsonsible for the war it is losing" - who spreads pro-Russian propaganda in Georgia

JAMnews

Tbilisi

Pro-Russian movement in Georgia:

In parallel with the war in Ukraine, the pro-Russian ultra-radical media organization “Alt-Info” became particularly active in Georgia (its representatives of which also founded a political party last year).

Every day, Alt-Info audience listens to the Russian ‘version’ of the war in Ukraine – about the West, which set Ukraine against Russia, and President Zelensky, who did not spare his people for the sake of NATO. For Georgia, the only salvation and pragmatic solution is dialogue with Russia, they say, and only Russia can return the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The opposition believes that the country’s authorities are behind such groups and their strengthening is detrimental to the country’s security. The ties of the Alt-Info group with the state are confirmed by both non-governmental organizations and experts.

Conservative movement and its ideology:

The party called “Conservative Movement” was registered on December 7, 2021. The founders of this party are representatives of the far-right pro-Russian media platform Alt-Info.

Pro-Russian movement in Georgia: — Alt-Info Party, Constituent Assembly. November 20, 2021 Photo: Facebook

Zurab Makharadze, director of Alt-Info, was elected chairman of the founding congress of the party, and Irakli Martinenko, Irakli Morgoshia, Giorgi Kardava and Vasil Gvilia were elected members of the political council.

These are the same people who staged a violent protest against the organizers of the Pride March and LGBTQ activists in the center of Tbilisi on July 5 last year. During the protest, 54 media representatives were injured. One of them, TV Pirveli cameraman Lekso Lashkarava, who was severely beaten and died a few days later.

Although there are many videos that contain direct calls for violence, none of the organizers of this rally have been punished. Moreover, five months after that day, the organizers of the July 5 riots formed a party, and in February opened almost 70 regional organisations in Georgia.

The founders of the “Conservative Movement” declare that their goal is to establish Christian democracy in Georgia instead of liberal democracy, as well as restore relations with Russia. At the party congress, Konstantin Morgoshia stated that they would not allow “attacks on the church and God by journalists, politicians and politicians to become a trend in the ancient Orthodox country”.

Party chairman Zurab Makharadze listed the main problems of the country at the party congress – security, territorial integrity, extreme poverty, demographic situation, and then stated that the key to solving all the problems of Georgia is in Moscow:

“The issue of Georgia’s territorial integrity is being decided in the Kremlin.”

The conservative movement says the party is ready for talks in Moscow.

How the party was created

A group called “Alt-Info” appeared in Georgia during the presidential elections of 2018, and officially “Alt-Info” LLC was registered in the public registry on January 28, 2019.

Alt-Info was initially active on Facebook. In Georgia, with a population of 3.7 million, Facebook is the most popular platform with 2.5 million Facebook users.

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), a Tbilisi-based organization, has identified dozens of Facebook pages linked to Alt-Info. These pages had the same content – anti-Western, anti-liberal, xenophobic and homophobic messages.

According to the Fair Elections survey, in addition to Facebook pages, Alt-Info also managed 25 public groups, which included tens of thousands of people who actively shared Alt-Info news.

In 2020, Facebook removed dozens of Alt-Info-related pages for spreading disinformation and hate speech. Facebook continued blocking Alt-Info related pages and groups even after 2020. It is still difficult for this group to maintain a Facebook group or page for a long time.

According to ISFED, due to limited access to Facebook, Alt-Info is currently actively using Telegram and Tik-Tok to distribute messages.

After its activities on Facebook were restricted, Alt-Info turned to the Georgian Communications Commission and requested an official broadcasting license. On November 26, 2020, “Alt-Info” received authorization, and since 2021 it is present on air.

According to the registry, Alt-Info has two owners – the aunt of businessman Konstantin Morgoshia – Tsial Morgosh, and Shota Martinenko, who is also one of the leading broadcasts of Alt-Info.

This is not the first such project for Konstantin Morgoshia. Georgian society previously knew him as one of the leaders of the far-right movement “Georgian March” and the leader of anti-LGBT rallies. The Georgian March has been active for several years, its main focus was the fight against the LGBT community and immigrants.

In 2016, Morgoshia tried to run for parliament – he was on the Alliance of Patriots party list in the parliamentary elections and ran in the Mtskheta district from the same party, but could not become a deputy.

In 2019, Morgoshia and the Georgian March organized a large-scale action at the premiere of the first Georgian film about the LGBT people, And Then We Danced. In 2018, he threatened the vice-captain of the Georgian national football team, Guram Kashia, because of the rainbow headband, which he used to express support for the LGBT community.

With the help of representatives of the Georgian March, in May 2018, the authorities managed to disperse a protest against police raids in nightclubs, and in other cases effectively used the extreme right to attack their opponents.

What “Alt-Info” broadcasts

Ukraine is the main topic of the March news releases of Alt-Info. Alt-Info covers this war with sharply anti-Western and pro-Russian messages.

Here are some phrases are taken from the eight-hour Alt-Info news program on the evening of March 23:

● Ukraine could not avoid war. If is was not for its desire to join NATO, it would have avoided this destruction;

“The desire to join NATO has become one of the main reasons for the ongoing war in Ukraine”

● The West does little to help Ukraine. The West has a non-intervention policy when it comes to its security, and Ukraine has left it no choice;

●No one asked the Ukrainian people if they wanted to join NATO;

“T he Ukrainian authorities forgot to ask the people before the war whether the Ukrainian people wanted to get involved in the war”.

● Ukraine is losing the war, and Zelensky is only now realizing what he did wrong by starting this war;

● The West is a bait for both Ukraine and Georgia – they don’t expect us there; The solution is military neutrality;

“The reality is that NATO’s door is open, but neither Ukraine nor Georgia will ever enter it…
The only correct way now is to declare military neutrality in order to avoid the Ukrainian scenario in our country”.

Due to the replication of such messages, the Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI) filed a complaint against Alt-Info to the Georgian Communications Regulatory Commission.

The organization claims that Alt-Info justifies the crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, which is prohibited by the Georgian law “On Broadcasting”.

24 March Commission decided that Alt-Info is promoting war. However, she did not impose sanctions on the company.

“The constitutional body recognized Alt-Info as a war propagandist. It is very important. We did not ask for revocation or suspension of authorization. It was important for us that the state would qualify the activities of Alt-Info”, complainant Eduard Marikashvili told JAMnews.

When asked what this changes, he replies that this decision of the Communications Commission, a constitutional body, is a document for those who demand a ban on the activities of this group.

How is pro-Russian group growing stronger

Over the past two months, the Alt-Info party has been opening offices in the regions of Georgia one by one. At the same time, the amount of donations to the party is increasing daily.

According to the data of the state audit, in one month, between February 16 and March 21, 2022, the party received a donation of 93,035 lari (about 30 thousand dollars) from 96 people.

The conservative movement began opening offices in January in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region in western Georgia. One of the leaders of the party Konstantin Morgoshia said that by the end of April it will have 77 offices across the country.

Almost everywhere, the party opens its offices amid protests from local residents. In some places, the party was forced to leave the offices by the owners of buildings – this happened in Mestia, Khulo, Shuakhevi.

After opening an office in Ozurgeti in western Georgia, party members were unable to use the office as Irma Gordeladze, a local civic education teacher, initiated a protest against Alt-Info.

“They stayed there for only half an hour and never appeared again”, Irma Gordeladze told JAMnews, adding that “Putin’s servants” would not be able to settle in the region.

Party members fight Irma Gordeladze on social media.

“They post my photos on Facebook, make fun of me, scold me. Bots and trolls are invading my Facebook. They think that they put pressure on me, and I laugh at it”, Irma Gordeladze told us.

This is the “Alt-Info” signature move. Irma Gordeladze is not the only one who receives open threats from this party.

Samira Bayramova is a Marneuli-based activist known for her bold protests and speeches. In response to the party’s position on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Samira painted the office of the Conservative Movement in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

This action was followed by an open threat against Samira. Party members first threatened her, and then left insulting and obscene inscriptions and photographs on the office of the opposition party United National Movement in Marneuli (they themselves considered Samira Bayramova an activist of this party).

Alt-Info also threatened other activists and journalists. These threats are heard live and are spread on social media. But the authorities do not respond to them accordingly.

The Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia (an organization that defends the interests of Samira Bayramova) says that the inaction of the authorities raises many questions. Especially in light of the fact that the authorities did not punish the organizers of the July 5 pogrom:

“The government may be treating this group differently”, said Nika Simonishvili, chairman of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association.

Alt Info and Georgian Dream government

Why does the state turn a blind eye to violence of “Alt-info” – this question has already become a rhetorical one for many.

“There are no fascist parties and organizations in Georgia as independent political entities”, says politician David Zurabishvili.

In an interview with JAMnews, he claims that behind these pro-Russian forces is the Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili personally:

“Pro-Russian and pro-fascist forces are not independent if they are not supported by the government. Georgian Dream needs them to set them against someone, and at the same time indirectly show to Moscow that “I am here for you, I am protecting them.” This is their style of government. They will always have some openly anti-Western groups”.

The conservative movement openly writes on the party’s website that it intends to participate in the elections. JAMnews asked David Zurabishvili whether it is dangerous for this party to enter the Georgian parliament, since, given the low electoral threshold, the likelihood of this is high:

“Their contingent is mainly voters of the ruling Georgian Dream party. People who like them will probably vote for the “Dream”, not for them. So I doubt that this is a serious force. They don’t have those figures. But such forces are dangerous for society, especially since they have money, they employ someone. Therefore, it makes sense to fight them”.

Anna Natsvlishvili, a member of the opposition Lelo party, says the government has leverage to fight the pro-Russian group but has no desire to do so:

“The government often says, ‘What can I do? I can’t restrict freedom of expression, can I? But what these groups do is not free speech. They have long gone beyond it”.

She lists the group’s actions that give the state a legal basis to respond to its actions: the July 5 case, the decision of the communications commission (which found war propaganda), open threats against journalists and activists, the constitutional guarantee of the country’s Western course, to which this group poses an obvious threat:

“Their statements openly contradict the Georgian constitution, in which we have a guarantee in Article 78 that everyone should work to promote European integration”, says Anna Natsvlishvili.

“When the state has an obligation and appropriate legal mechanisms to act, but it does not act, and at the same time, when its rhetoric and the rhetoric of this violent group are very close to each other, the conclusion is that yes, the state helps them”.