Georgian Parliament Speaker denounces US lawmakers’ letter as “manipulation, disinformation”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday responded to a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio by six American senators and congressmen, calling it “manipulation and disinformation”.

The letter, signed by Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Roger Wicker, John Curtis, and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Congressmen Joe Wilson and Steve Cohen, urged the US administration to protect former US personnel in Georgia, who they claimed have been unfairly targeted amid a concerning rise in anti-American rhetoric by Georgian officials.

“This is a simple manipulation and disinformation. Someone in a foreign capital can say anything just because power inflates them, and local activists blindly spread it”, Papuashvili told journalists.

The US lawmakers cited an October 1 statement by Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Head of Georgia’s State Security Service, in which he allegedly accused the US government of fomenting a revolution by paying former employees of USAID’s Foreign Service National (FSN) programme.

“In fact, everyone remembers the context. No one raised any claims about local embassy staff or their pension funds. As for large transfers from other countries to Georgia, sorry, but USAID was closed by us, or by the new [US] administration? The allegations against USAID were about attempts to destabilize other countries, using it as a tool to influence governments and people”, Papuashvili said.

The Speaker emphasised that skepticism toward foreign financial flows in Georgia was due to the conduct of international donors themselves.

“So, the fact that we view any such funds with suspicion is the fault of the donors who damaged their own reputations. Any donor transaction is scrutinised by the Georgian public. This is due to the reputational damage caused by the EU Ambassador, ambassadors from various countries, and other donors. Their reputation was tarnished so badly that any such transaction immediately raises alarms among the Georgian people - are these funds intended to undermine our democracy?” he said.

Papuashvili also highlighted the role of the State Security Service in maintaining stability.

“It is thanks to the State Security Service that there was no overthrow of the government on October 4. That is their mission, and that is why several pre-announced revolutionary attempts did not materialize. The Security Service fulfills its duty by scrutinizing such transactions. Naturally, we expect and require them to monitor these transactions very carefully”, he concluded.

In reality, during the interview, Mamuka Mdinaradze spoke about the scheme describing how funds are channeled through various networks to implement radical plans. Mdinaradze refrained from giving more specific details but noted that “from Thailand, there are people in Georgia funded by the embassy of one country for anti-Chinese purposes, and in about 95-98% of cases, this money goes to radicals acting against the government”.