Georgia’s ruling party official accuses opposition, NGOs of attempts to destabilise country

Levan Machavariani, the First Deputy Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary faction, on Monday accused opposition parties, NGOs and activists of repeatedly attempting to destabilise Georgia and stage revolutions, claiming that their actions had been coordinated with foreign actors.

In a social media message, Machavariani noted that the proxy opposition parties, wealthy NGOs and ultra-leftist, pseudo-liberal activists, were “enemies of Georgia”.

“Your actions aimed at destabilising the country have become so open and blatant that even a large part of your own supporters recognise that the Georgian Dream [party], under the leadership of Bidzina Ivanishvili, is the only guarantor of peace and stability in Georgia”, Machavariani said.

He added that in previous posts he had highlighted what he described as harmful actions by the opposition, NGOs, and activists, and said he would now focus on what he called their efforts to orchestrate revolutions and deliberately destabilise the country.

“The most intense phase of these developments, along with the active involvement of their foreign patrons, began at the end of 2020, just over a year before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. By that time, the foreign backers of the radicals already knew the war was imminent and were rushing to bring their agents to power so that, once the conflict began, Georgia could be used as a proxy state”, he continued.

Machavariani claimed that, following the 2020 parliamentary elections, USAID became involved in what he described as efforts to destabilise the country. He also alleged that the USAID-funded International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) had manipulated the results of its parallel vote tabulation.

“This falsification was supposed to trigger the artificial radicalisation of the political process. The troublemakers took to the streets and attempted to enter the Central Election Commission. The proxy opposition parties announced a boycott and demanded snap elections. An artificial crisis was created”, he said.

According to Machavariani, this marked the beginning of what he described as a continuous campaign to destabilise Georgia, involving foreign actors.

“To deepen the artificial crisis, Gakharia resigned from office on the instructions of several local ‘supervisors’ acting on behalf of the agents’ foreign patrons. The ultimate objective was to bring down the government, while the minimum goal was to facilitate Gakharia’s return to politics several months later and draw votes away from the Georgian Dream”, he claimed.

He also linked the visit of then-European Council President Charles Michel to Georgia to the political developments that followed Gakharia’s resignation, arguing that the 43% threshold included in the EU-mediated agreement was part of a broader plan aimed at triggering snap parliamentary elections.

“Gakharia was needed precisely for these elections. Several months later, he was brought back into politics, and rumours began circulating that he was Bidzina Ivanishvili’s political project. The goal was to siphon votes away from Georgian Dream and prevent it from crossing the threshold”, Machavariani said.

He further stressed that, two days before the election, imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was smuggled into Georgia by Ukrainian special services.

Machavariani further turned to the period following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, saying the government’s refusal to become directly involved in the conflict had once again brought a revolutionary scenario onto the agenda.

“After we refused to join the war during closed-door meetings, after Bidzina Ivanishvili was effectively subjected to sanctions and access to a significant portion of his assets was suspended, and after we refused, despite enormous pressure, to impose sanctions on Russia, officially send volunteers to fight in Ukraine, or transfer our weapons to Ukraine - in other words, after we refused to become involved in the war - the issue of another revolution was once again placed on the agenda”, he said.

According to Machavariani, NGOs and their foreign supporters subsequently developed a plan centred on Georgia’s EU candidacy.

“The foreign patrons would have Ukraine and Moldova submit applications for EU candidate status. If Georgia did not join them, a new wave of demonstrations would begin around the narrative that the government did not want Georgia to join the European Union. If we also submitted an application, Ukraine and Moldova would be granted candidate status while Georgia would be rejected, artificially escalating the situation to a point that would ultimately lead to a revolution”, he claimed.

Machavariani said Georgia submitted its application for EU membership in March 2022 and alleged that opposition parties, NGOs, and activists subsequently underwent training in preparation for the demonstrations that took place in June of that year.

He described the June 2022 demonstrations as another failed attempt to bring down the government, claiming that NGOs had called for the government’s resignation and the formation of a technocratic government.

“Fortunately, with the support of the Georgian people, this revolutionary attempt also failed”, Machavariani said.

He said Georgia subsequently survived what he described as two more revolutionary attempts in 2023 and 2024 during the adoption of the Georgian law on transparency.

“Between these two revolutionary attempts, at the instruction of their external patrons, USAID brought the organisation Canvas to train the agents. During the 2024 demonstrations, we also saw ministers from European countries and Members of the European Parliament, while these actors did not shy away from openly calling for a Maidan-style uprising,” he said.

Machavariani also referred to the protests surrounding the transparency law, saying he had previously discussed in detail what he described as a “fraudulent” campaign dubbed the “Russian law” and the violence that accompanied the demonstrations.

He then addressed the political crisis of late 2024, claiming that the opposition had planned to repeat the events of 2022 on a larger scale.

“In December 2024, the agents planned to repeat the events that had unfolded after Georgia was denied candidate status in 2022, but with greater preparation, considerably more energy and aggression. Under conditions of full coordination, Brussels would not open accession negotiations with us, and the events of June 2022 were supposed to unfold with greater intensity in December 2024,” Machavariani said.

He claimed that the government had pre-empted the plan by announcing in November that it would not put the opening of EU accession negotiations on the agenda until 2028.

“The so-called self-organised demonstrations began, during which we witnessed unprecedented levels of violence. These so-called self-organised demonstrations, of course, turned out to be well organised,” he said.

Machavariani alleged that searches of opposition and NGO offices had uncovered pyrotechnics, Molotov cocktails and flammable substances that were allegedly intended for use during violent protests.

“We saw the same revolutionary attempt fail”, he said.

He also referred to the events of October 4, 2025, claiming that preparations for another revolution had begun well in advance.

“Several days earlier, the European Commission had even officially pledged solidarity with the plan to overthrow the government. We watched live attempts to storm and seize the presidential palace. As a result of measures carried out with surgical precision by law enforcement agencies, this revolutionary attempt was also prevented”, Machavariani said.

He said the Georgian state had remained stable despite what he described as continued attempts to undermine it.

“Despite the agents’ constant sabotage and attempts to destabilise the country, the state, with its institutions, is standing up to the challenge. With the support of the Georgian people, our country today is as independent and sovereign as it has never been since gaining independence”, he said.

Machavariani added that the government was focused on protecting Georgia’s national interests, maintaining peace and stability, safeguarding national identity and developing the country’s role as a regional connectivity hub.

“We make all decisions concerning Georgia in Georgia itself!”, he said.

Addressing the opposition parties, NGOs and activists directly, Machavariani reiterated his accusation that they were seeking to destabilise the country.

“The proxy opposition parties, wealthy NGOs and ultra-leftist, pseudo-liberal activists, you are enemies of Georgia! Your actions aimed at destabilising the country have become so open and blatant that even a large part of your own supporters recognise that Georgian Dream, under the leadership of Bidzina Ivanishvili, is the only guarantee of peace and stability in Georgia”, he continued.

“Together with the Georgian people, we will remind you every day that, because of all this harm and filth, you owe an apology to the absolute majority of our society!” Machavariani concluded.