A glimpse of the Russian Threat

By Malkhaz Matsaberidze

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

The post of Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia and currently the deputy secretary of the Security Council of this country, appeared on the social network and quickly disappeared as if the page had been hacked and the published post did not belong to Medvedev. In fact, there was nothing mentioned in this post that Medvedev or Putin hadn't already said, or rather, done. The opposition saw a great threat to Georgia in this 'disappearing' post of Medvedev, and the government did not consider it necessary to criticize the Russian government again.

The appearance of Medvedev's mentioned post naturally caused a great response, but the post was soon taken down. Dmitry Medvedev's assistant simply stated that Medvedev's page on the social network was hacked. For many, this was not convincing, and they considered the 'disappearing' post to be a part of Russian propaganda, which was published, without taking 'responsibility' for it.

After reading Medvedev's disappearing post, it becomes clear that those who accuse the current Russian government of trying to restore the Soviet Union are wrong. This is actually about the restoration of the Russian Empire of the time of the Romanovs, and the states created after the collapse of this empire and then the Soviet Union have no place in this plan. Specifically, Medvedev's post contained threats against Ukraine, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. It turns out that these countries exist on 'Russian lands' and to 'justify' their imperial plans, whether it is Putin or Medvedev, they have invented 'their' version of history. Before Medvedev, in 2019, Putin himself told us a similar version of history directed against Georgia.

From Medvedev's post, we 'learn' that it turns out that Georgia did not exist at all, and that in the 19th century, Russia 'joined' five kingdoms-principalities on the territory of Georgia (it did not conquer, but joined, because according to the Russian version of history, Moscow has never conquered anyone). Today, if Georgia wants to return to the occupied territories, it would be able to do so only as part of Russia.

The representatives of the Georgian government did not attach any importance to Medvedev's 'outrageous' post. One of them said - the post was fake and took it down, the other said 'Medvedev is gone', that is, he is no longer in power, the third - do we know the true history of Georgia and what is the significance of what they write in the name of Medvedev.

In short, no one made a critical statement regarding the incident, nor did they ask questions about Russian politicians. However, these people often have critical statements and questions about the West.

It should be noted that on the second day of the scandal that broke out due to Medvedev's post, a fake report was broadcast on Shida Kartli's local television (Gori) - as if Gharibashvili had come to Moscow and met Putin, Putin returned Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region to Georgia, America came out against this and called for the restoration of Russian-Georgian relations. Then the heads of Western non-governmental organizations and the public defender were arrested. Viewers were only told at the end of the show that it was a fictional report.

The report was fabricated, but the idea expressed in it is a central axis of Russian propaganda. If we "get away" from the West, Moscow will "return" the occupied territories of Georgia to us. Restoring the territorial integrity of Georgia is opposed only by the West and primarily the USA. The authors of such a propaganda message probably consider the population of Georgia to be very stupid.

Unlike the government, the opposition saw real danger in Putin's post. According to 'National Movement' deputy Levan Bezhashvili, Medvedev's statement was widely spread. According to him, "the website of the head of the Security Council is not easily hacked. This was a deliberate statement and a warning to Georgia, Kazakhstan, and the entire progressive world about their real plans."

The 'friendly' policy toward Russia does not reduce the threat of aggression, but on the contrary, it increases this threat. According to the opposition, in order to deal with the threats coming from Russia, Georgia should actively cooperate with the West, while the Georgian government, on the contrary, confronts the West. For illustration, interesting data was published by OC-Media. The statements made by the chairman of Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze for four months, from February 24 to July 27, after the Russian attack on Ukraine, were counted. It turned out that during this period he made critical comments against Russia only 9 times, 26 times against Ukraine and Ukrainian officials, and 57 critical comments against the West. The statistics are impressive, however, the representatives of the Georgian government mispronounce these statistics.

After the war that started in Ukraine, citizens of Russia and Belarus, who are planning to stay here for a long time, have moved to Georgia massively and have already registered thousands of companies in the country. The opposition sees this as a serious threat. The 'Lelo' party calls on the Georgian authorities to establish a visa regime for the citizens of Russia and Belarus, although it is clear that 'Georgian Dream' will not do this.

In the fall, it will become clear how the Georgian Dream is going to fulfill the 12 recommendations of the European Union. At this time, the opposition is also preparing to talk about the possible departure of Mikheil Saakashvili from politics and the application of the deputies from the Georgian Dream to establish a new anti-Western political force a sign of the expected regrouping of forces in Georgian politics.