Opinion, by Viktor Sparov
Sakartvelo is now at the most important juncture of its development, perhaps since the dissolution of the USSR. In less than a week, the country will hold parliamentary elections that will definitively determine the future course of this small but proud country. At stake is either a prosperous future within the family of European nations, or a final drift towards the “Russian Empire” and the loss of hard-won sovereignty. The actual “master of Georgia” Bidzina Ivanishvili wants to sell the country again to his masters from the Kremlin. It is not shy to even try to subjugate the Georgian Orthodox Church, which enjoys authority in society. Meanwhile, Georgians themselves are taking part in mass protests, advocating for preservation of the European vector of development. The fate of the country depends on every vote.
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Ivanishvili, who officially entered Georgian politics when he became Prime Minister in 2011, promised his people to get rid of his Russian business. And he cheated. And that is not the only thing he did. The “Georgian Dream”, which he brought to power with generous promises of a luxurious life, deprives Georgians of a future and confidently leads the people into poverty. And it is no longer possible to hide it. Let us start from the beginning.
Ivanishvili got rid of his business in Russia very technically, just starting to run it offshore, using his relatives, breeding subsidiaries, and mixing leads for investigations. But it did not work out. According to Transparency International, only until 2019 Ivanishvili continued to own at least 10 Russian companies through offshore, which were managed by his relatives or close to him acting ministers of the Government of Georgia.
In fact, it was not just business. Ivanishvili was firmly rooted among those close to the dictator Vladimir Putin, this providing him with a “roof” both in Russia and in Georgia itself. In particular, Ivanishvili “does business” with the long-time governor of St. Petersburg and particularly close to the body of the “Russian Emperor,” retired KGB General Georgiy Poltavchenko, who is under US sanctions. And also, with the former high-ranking official of Volgograd Roland Kheryanov, whose wife is a former deputy of the State Duma Anna Kovichko, author of the scandalous propaganda video “Uncle Vova, we are with you”.
Already this year, journalists have found that Ivanishvili’s assets in Russia continue to grow. Among the previously unreported assets of Ivanishvili’s wife are another house and two adjacent plots of land near Peredelkino (an elite summer village in the Moscow region). A company affiliated with Ivanishvili owns 2.7 hectares of land in the neighbourhood. These are tens of millions of dollars stolen from the Georgian people.
The Church remains with the people
It is not surprising that the government, mired in corruption and ties with aggressive Moscow, is seeking support from the Georgian Orthodox Church. This approach inherits the centuries-old tradition of Russian rulers, who used the church as a tool to enslave and justify crimes. Russian tyrants drowned their own country and neighboring peoples in blood with the blessing of their church. This is how it is happening today. The Russian Church supports the aggressive war in Ukraine. Ivanishvili tried to use the Russian template and announced plans to make Orthodoxy the state religion.
Imprisoned Mikhail Saakashvili called these plans an attempt by Ivanishvili to “destroy the only institution that remained outside his full control.”
“He will be able to appoint and dismiss the patriarch and bishops. This is an insidious plan, and it is clear that it comes from Russia,” Saakashvili said.
Ivanishvili’s initiative was rejected by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Moreover, some high-ranking hierarchs have called the initiative an electoral stunt of the government.
Protopresbyter Georgiy Zviadadze stated that the Prime Minister of Georgia was given an unambiguous written position that the Church believes that the legal model of relations between the state and the Church should remain in force and the Church should maintain its independence.
One of the most well-known patrons of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Georgian and British businessman Tamaz Somkhishvili, who donated a church in London to the Church and sponsored Andrew the First-Called Georgian University of the Patriarchate of Georgia, also strongly condemned attempts to take control of the country’s main denomination. He noted that he did not understand how such a thing became possible in the 21st century in a European country. He cited the example of Britain, where it is absolutely inconceivable for a British Prime Minister to suddenly declare his claim to govern an Anglican or Catholic Church. The patron expressed deep regret that such steps of the government became possible today in Georgia and expressed hope that the situation will change, noting that “the night is darkest before dawn”.
The path to prosperity lies only through Europe
What about the people? And the people, observing the luxury of “Russian agents” in power, are forced to fight for survival on a measly 300 lari per month. And only TV, the broadcasting of which Ivanishvili has monopolized, is helping to defeat the empty refrigerator.
The result of this policy is clear. Europe has stopped the process of Georgia’s accession to the EU, the US is imposing restrictions, everything is moving towards the imposition of sactions by the civilized world. Only the Kremlin Führer Vladimir Putin rubs his hands in anticipation of Georgia’s return to the embrace of the “Russian world” and new cannon meat that can be sent to war in Ukraine
Georgian citizen Bidzina Ivanishvili is doing all this. He is the citizen of the country, from which Moscow took Abkhazia and South Ossetia, putting puppet governments there. He probably has Russian citizenship, though. And he tries to be “Russian” even more than the Russians themselves.
But hope remains. Indeed, Tamaz Somkhivshili’s assertion that “the night is darkest before dawn” is true. All Russian assets and real estate of Ivanishvili may no longer be a help for the administration of the new Moscow colony that the traitor Bidzina wants to turn Georgia into, but only a backup airfield for the fugitive oligarch cursed in his own country.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called for support of one of the four pro-European parties in the elections: Unity – National Movement (ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s party); Coalition for Change; Strong Georgia; and Gakharia for Georgia (ex-prime minister Giorgi Gakharia’s party). Together, they want to restore Georgia’s European future and repeal the draconian laws adopted under Moscow’s dictatorship – the law on ‘foreign agents’, in particular.
Saakashvili’s party, which is preparing for its triumphant return to Georgian politics, will be discussed separately. After coming to power, Unity – National Movement is going to immediately return Georgia to the process of joining the European Union and sign a visa-free and free trade zone with the US.
In addition, Saakashvili intends to destroy the corruption that has grown since Ivanishvili came to power and launch the process of attracting multibillion-dollar Western investments to the country. He has had a successful experience of reforming and fighting rogue officials who are robbing the people of their future and livelihoods. And Georgia remembers that. With the slogan “Economy should work for people, not elites”, Saakashvili intends to fight poverty and increase citizens’ income to 3.5 thousand lari ($1200).
With investment and donor funds coming into the country, pensions and childbirth benefits will increase. The party also announced a program of returning emigrants to avoid a demographic catastrophe. The budget will be filled by eliminating the monopolies that have been bred under the current government, which drain the blood of the Georgian budget and fill only the pockets of Ivanishvili’s relatives and associates.
The choice of every Georgian and the ability to defend this choice may revive the “Georgian dream”. It is not the dream of Ivanishvili and his Russian henchmen, but that of the Georgians themselves. This will become the key to unification of Sakartvelo, the return to the civilized world and the final liberation from the Moscow occupiers.
