Ruling Georgian Dream party official alleges foreign-funded training of opposition activists abroad aims to destabilise country

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday claimed that recent foreign-funded activities targeting Georgian activists were part of an effort to instigate unrest and seek a change of Government in the country.

Mdinaradze’s comments came after the domestic media outlet Prime Time on Monday published exclusive information alleging that the United Kingdom was preparing Georgian opposition activists for the upcoming local self-government elections scheduled for October 4. According to the outlet, the training sessions are taking place in the Baltic states, with Lithuania serving as a key host country.

Mdinaradze noted that the enactment of the domestic Transparency Law had made it harder for large sums of money to be brought directly into the country. As a result, he alleged, foreign sponsors prefer to send funding abroad to conduct training sessions there.

“They effectively banned themselves from bringing money into Georgia. We didn’t impose a ban; we simply required that all financing be transparent and in line with the law. They imposed this restriction on themselves, because they don’t want to disclose how funds are spent here. Instead, they prefer, for example, to transfer money into personal accounts. There is evidence of this - I’m not saying it by accident. They want to channel money through various ways, but not in amounts like before - tens of millions of dollars that were previously spent on recruiting young people”, Mdinaradze noted.

He further argued that while large-scale domestic training efforts in Georgia had already failed to sway the public, the relocation of such programs abroad would also prove ineffective.

“This attempt will inevitably fail. They could not achieve results even when training was held here. Now, taking a few people abroad and bringing them back will certainly not create fear among Georgians, nor will it succeed in imposing actions against the will of our citizens”, Mdinaradze concluded.