In this thread, I’m explaining the key issue to understand about Georgia and what the focus should be when dealing with its illegitimate government. Spoiler: it’s the Russian intelligence activity. 1/10 The US has sanctioned oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, "ruler" of Georgia for undermining country’s democracy in favour of Russia. Executive Order 14024, under which Ivanishvili was sanctioned, was originally issued in the US in response to the “malign activities” of Russia. 2/10

🧵 The illegitimate, signle-party so-called parliament has installed the only candidate in their sham “elections” as a “president.” This is unconstitutional. Think we’re talking about Belarus or North Korea? No—this is Georgia. 1/5 The Kremlin-backed regime in Georgia has named ex-football pro Mikheil Kavelashvili as president. A few years ago, they tried making him the Football Federation president but failed because he lacked the required education and diploma. 2/5

Things have been developing quickly over the past 2-3 weeks in Georgia, but in the last couple of days, they have progressed at an unimaginable speed. The ruling Georgian Dream party has employed various tactics targeting civil society, escalating to an extreme level. 1/6 Exclusive know-how: 100s, if not 1000s, of people—activists, NGO reprs, media, and their families—are receiving calls from foreign cell numbers, with insults and threats. This is very likely a coordinated and centralized effort to sow fear and intimidate civil society. 2/6

Is this "Yanukovich moment" of Georgia’s oligarch? It seems so. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the oligarch behind ruling Georgian Dream confirmed yesterday what we have observed since he came to power in 2012 – he announced a shift in Georgia’s foreign policy & political repressions. 1/13 Below are highlights from oligarch Ivanishvili's à la Lukashenka speech that is a turning moment for Georgia:
He unequivocally labeled the US and EU, the West in general, as a foreign enemy. 2/13

It was revealed that Davit Khidasheli, a Georgian-Russian businessman connected to Putin’s inner circle & engaged in business deals w/them (served as an executive VP of Sistema, an influential RUS conglomerate), has been appointed as an advisor to the GEO Minister of Defense. 1/4 Details regarding the duration of his appointment are yet to be disclosed. Allegedly, Khidasheli has had access to classified information. The MoD confirmed that Khidasheli works for the ministry. He was a pivotal figure in the “Gareji Case”/“Cartographers’ Case”, wherein... 2/

Tbilisi 🇬🇪🇪🇺🇺🇦 (h/t TV Formula).

Today is the day that I love the most - Independence Day of Georgia. But at the same time, it is a sad day. 1/5 Today, as never before, Ronald Reagan's words are relevant & important for Georgia: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." 2/5

Meta took down Georgian FB network associated with the Georgian Government’s Department of Strategic Communications for coordinated inauthentic behavior.
It should be highlighted that the StratCom dept was supported both financially & with capacity-building by the West. 1/7 To sum up, the network linked with the StratCom Department of the Georgian government was covertly promoting Russian style "foreign agents law" that was meant to target the Western support and activities in Georgia. 2/7

We published two reports on the Kremlin information operations before and after February 2022 re-invasion. It's not only a product of over a year-long 24/7 work, but a culmination of 7 years of daily monitoring, documentation, & analysis by us at the @AtlanticCouncil @DFRLab. 1/8 2 reports are: "Narrative Warfare: How the Kremlin and Russian News Outlets Justified a War of Aggression Against Ukraine" - It's a data-driven & manual analysis of over 10,000 articles showing how the Kremlin prepared a ground for & justification of re-invasion of Ukraine. 2/8

The Ukrainian defense ministry’s intelligence department (GUR) has claimed that Russian operatives used deepfake technology in an attempt to discredit Ukraine’s partnership with Turkey. 1/5 According to a GUR Telegram post from October 9, Russian intelligence services attempted to use deepfake technology to call Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of of Baykar Defense, the Turkish defense company providing Bayraktar drones to Ukraine. 2/5

On this day in 2008, when I was doing groceries, Russia invaded Georgia. As the news on Georgian radio were nervously reporting about Russia’s bombing and killing civilians, I was already running to my parents’, with the only thought to see them. 1/9 I was listening to the radio on my smartphone, because along with Russia’s advance in Georgia, Moscow was targeting Georgian government & media websites with cyberattacks. It was my first time I witnessed disinfo campaigns, which were causing chaos & panic in real life. 2/9

A crazy online battle is happening in Georgia: Dedaena Bar, a popular place in Tbilisi, is targeted by Russian internet users and the Georgians are trying to counter the organizied attack. 1/6 The bar is supporting Ukraine and protesting Russia's war. There are Ukrainian flags, the hand stamp for entering the bar says "Putin Khuilo", and the bar added so-called visas for Russian citizens willing to enter the bar: 2/6
dedaenabar.ge/for-russians

As Russians flee to Georgia, there appeared posters in Tbilisi, which "offer" necessary services to the citizens of Russia. To receive the information they should scan the QR code. After scanning, instead of the services, there appears info about Russia's aggression. 1/ Information about renting an apartment - the poster says you should scan the code for a discount. The QR code leads to a video showing a crying child alone leaving Ukraine. 2/

Remember the cold war Soviet disinformation campaign “Operation Infektion” that blamed the US for the AIDS virus? A similar pattern of spreading disinformation is evolving alongside the current #coronaviruse outbreak. ⬇️ While epidemiologists work to identify the exact source of the outbreak, officially known as 2019-nCov, pro-Kremlin actors are already blaming the U.S. for supposedly using bioweapons to disseminate the virus.