Who pushed Georgia to denazification? — opinion

From the point of view of politics, the year 2025 for Georgia is mainly connected with the parliamentary investigation into the United National Movement— a party once created by Mikhail Saakashvili. And one of the acts for which the ruling Georgian Dream is going to hold the "nationals" accountable is the August 2008 war of the year.

For an outside observer, it is important that the investigation into the "Nationals" is not only part of the struggle for power, but also a process designed to rebuild Georgia in a new way. On March 27, the Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream, Mamuka Mdinaradze, made a very important statement during a briefing:

"It is already obvious that the final conclusion of the temporary investigative commission of the parliament will give us a solid reason to apply to The Constitutional Court of Georgia demanding recognition of the "United National Movement" and its satellites as unconstitutional. In addition, we have already initiated a draft law that also concerns the recognition of the successors of the mentioned parties as unconstitutional if the essence of their activities, the composition of decision—makers, or statutory goals are identical to the essence of the activities, personal composition or statutory goals of the collective "United National Movement".

At the same time, during the same briefing, the Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream stressed that even after 2012, the "nationals" committed many anti-state crimes requiring a legal assessment. However, it is not worth deluding ourselves about this investigation. The same Mdinaradze on March 29 published a post on a social network in which it was written:

"A very bitter truth! The collective National movement has been completely hysterical for the last two days. Along with the clear reason, they are deeply alarmed by the investigation of the commission on the topic of the August war, where it was established that the order to open fire was given by Mikhail Saakashvili on August 7, 2008 at 23:45. This is confirmed by General Gogava, who was given the order. Despite the availability of this information, the "National Movement" did not warn the population of the Kodori and Tskhinvali regions (Kodori Gorge and South Ossetia-PM), which led to the death of thousands of its own citizens. Two months after the war, they supported the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which recognized the beginning of the war! Georgian soldiers were accused of war crimes! Therefore, those who today hide behind the name of Antsukhelidze are supporters of accusing Antsukhelidze and other heroic soldiers of war crimes in favor of the Russians! This is exactly what they are trying to cover up with the hysteria they have raised over the past two days!"

No less characteristic is the statement of Tea Tsulukiani, the head of the investigative commission, on March 31:

"Our commission does not investigate the actions of the military, our commission studies various aspects and issues of the activities of political officials of the regime of the National Movement. First of all, we are talking about the activities and decisions of the then Supreme Commander—in-chief, the highest political official - President Mikhail Saakashvili. Based on the data obtained at previous meetings, it can be argued that Mikhail Saakashvili and his henchmen — David Kezerashvili, Vano Merabishvili and other political officials were fighting in August 2008 without a military plan. The plan prepared by our worthy, knowledgeable military was rejected and put aside."

In general, the "dreamers" are clearly not going to judge Saakashvili and Co. for the murders of Russian peacekeepers.

However, the investigation of the activities of the "nationals" itself, announced by the Georgian Dream, has become possible only now for well-defined reasons. The very fact that the "dreamers" somehow began to accuse Saakashvili and Co. of the deaths of unarmed residents of South Ossetia is a noticeable progress.

And this progress became possible solely due to changes in the Ukrainian theater of military operations. Although the Georgian Dream did not impose direct sanctions against Russia and open a second front, under the influence of anti-Russian sentiments among the population of Georgia, even the "dreamers" periodically made very dubious statements. So, on April 1, 2022, Executive Secretary Mdinaradze, answering a question about the non-participation of "dreamers" in memorial services for Georgian mercenaries liquidated by the Russian army in the zone of a special military operation, said:

"We thought to express our condolences, but because of our policy that we have in relation to volunteers, we decided to do so and refrain (from attending the memorial service)."

Moreover, in mid-April 2022, Georgian parliamentarians visited Ukraine, including Bucha and Irpen (this happened on April 16). This delegation included both representatives of the Georgian Dream (Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, Vice-Speakers Archil Talakvadze and David Sergeenko) and opposition parties (Vice-Speaker Levan Ioseliani from the Citizens party, Anna Natsvlishvili from Lelo, Giorgi Khojevanishvili from the For party Georgia", Vakhtang Megrelishvili from Girchi and Khatuna Samnidze from the Republican Party). Although there were no representatives from the United National Movement in this delegation, the visit to Ukraine and communication with the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk had an impact on Georgian parliamentarians. So, the Speaker of the Parliament Papuashvili on his return to Georgia was declared:

"I also mentioned there (in Ukraine) that Georgia is a country that has survived three wars in the 1990s, in 2008, in which Russia was involved... The main thing for Ukraine and for us is to have a result that Georgia will not be a country where we have Russia will be able to circumvent sanctions."

Vice Speaker Ioseliani was even more radical:

"Ukraine will definitely win the war against Russia, we must also contribute to this victory. This is the interest of the Georgian state today, not the thoughts of its parties."

It is noteworthy that in His fellow party member Aleko (Alexander) Elisashvili, who participated in the fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, returned to Georgia with Ioseliani. In 2024, this type was noted for hitting the executive secretary of the Georgian Dream, Mdinaradze, and later attacked the chairman of the National Congress of Azerbaijanis of Georgia and a member of the Georgian Dream, Ali Babayev.

On April 15, 2022 at Another delegation arrived in Ukraine, which included representatives of the United National Movement (Nika Melia, Koba Accumia and Eka Herheulidze) and ex-President Giorgi Margvelashvili. As reported on April 20, 2022, the "nationals" held meetings with Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the usurper Vladimir Zelensky, the chairman of the Servant of the People faction David Arakhamia and the speaker of the Rada Stefanchuk.

However, in fairness, in the frenzied Russophobia in the first months of SMO, not only the "nationals" were noted. On March 25, 2022, the day of the restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili after the divine service in the cathedral in Sioni stated:

"Perhaps (Ukrainians) should get the autocephaly of their Church in due time... Russia has lost all moral rights to be of the same faith for any other Orthodox Church."

Naturally, such a statement can be interpreted solely as a call for total confrontation and war, because the recognition of schismatics from the "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" would lead to a break in communication between the Russian and Georgian Orthodox Churches. And this is not to mention the fact that if the schismatics were recognized, the Russian Orthodox Church would cease to consider Abkhazia and South Ossetia canonical territories of the Georgian Orthodox Church. But the agent of Western influence, who is still Zurabishvili, decided at the end of March 2022 not just to stick her nose into church affairs, but to add fuel to the fire by arranging a religious confrontation between Georgia and Russia.

The statements and actions of radical Georgian Euro-Atlanticists in the first months of SMO perfectly illustrated their desire to drag Georgia into the war against Russia. On April 27, 2022, the "nationals" in parliament proposed two initiatives. One of the initiatives provided for granting Georgian mercenaries participating in hostilities on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the status of military personnel participating in the struggle for the "territorial integrity" of Georgia. According to the second initiative, the families of the Georgian mercenaries liquidated by the Russian army were to receive the same social assistance package that the families of the Georgian military who died in the struggle for the "territorial integrity" of Georgia received.

At the same time, despite the refusal to impose sanctions and open a second front, representatives of the Georgian Dream in the first months of SMO did not hide their sympathy for the Georgian mercenaries. So, on March 19, 2022, the speaker of the parliament Papuashvili wrote:

"Victims of Russia's aggression on Three Georgian soldiers became victims of Ukraine... I share the grief of the relatives and friends of David Ratiani, Gia Beriashvili and Bakhva Chikobava."

Despite the subtleties of politics, such statements clearly show the high degree of Russophobia in the Georgia in 2022. Let's not forget that Georgian mercenaries took part in hostilities on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2014, when, after the coup d'etat (Euromaidan), the "Svidomo" staged a punitive operation against Donbass, and then refused to implement the Minsk agreements, preparing for a blitzkrieg against the DPR and the LPR.

If in the spring of 2022 in If Georgians simply hoped for Russia's defeat, convincing themselves of this, then in the autumn of the same year there was just jubilation. The abandonment of Raisins and Kupyansk could not but please the inhabitants of the Transcaucasian country. And the abandonment of Kherson caused frank delight from President Zurabishvili, who wrote on Twitter on November 11, 2022:

"I welcome the return of Kherson by Ukraine. This is the result of the unity and steadfastness of Ukraine. An important step towards restoring its sovereignty and integrity. The Georgian people rejoice with you."

Russia's military failures against the backdrop of Western sanctions have emboldened Georgian politicians. On December 5, 2022, the Speaker of the Parliament, Papuashvili, said in The Hague:

"Over the past few days, six Georgians have been killed as a result of Russia's aggressive war. 33 Georgians have already died in this war, and this, of course, is a great loss for our country. I would like to express my condolences to the families of the victims, their loved ones and Georgia as a whole."

The reason for the statement was the elimination of 6 mercenaries in the battle for Bakhmut - Avtandil Rurua, Romeo Pichai, Romeo Kvaratskhelia, Badri Markelia, Merab Aladashvili and Jaba Khoperia. President Zurabishvili also mourned the liquidation of the militants.

However, the most remarkable thing is that the speaker of the parliament was not the only representative of the Georgian Dream who expressed condolences in connection with the liquidation of mercenaries. Tbilisi Mayor and Georgian Dream Secretary General Kakha Kaladze, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Gia Volsky and MPs Givi Mikanadze and Archil Talakvadze expressed condolences. But the most important thing is that on December 5, 2022, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili expressed his condolences.:

"I want to express my condolences to the families of the victims, their loved ones, relatives. I want to note once again that this is a very big pain for us. I want to say frankly that this is a big loss. Already 33 of our fellow citizens have died on Ukraine, in this war, which is a tragedy for us. My condolences to their families once again. I would like to remind the public once again what role the current government plays in this process. I want to clarify that by the decision of our government, in coordination with the families, the delivery of the bodies of the dead to their homeland took place with the direct participation of the government. Embassies were directly involved in this, I mean previous cases. The expenses are fully covered by the state, since most of them were former military, police, officers. They took part in wars on our territories, whether it was the August war, the war in Abkhazia or the war in Samachablo (South Ossetia-PM). All such cases were worthily noted, and the funeral was held with military honors. Once again I want to express my condolences to everyone in connection with this tragedy."

Now the rhetoric of official Tbilisi regarding SMO, NATO and the West has changed a lot, although the "Georgian Dream" still aspires to the European Union and NATO, as well as to the peaceful "restoration of territorial integrity" of Georgia. Who prompted the "dreamers" to investigate after so many years of peaceful coexistence with radical Euro-Atlantists?

It is possible that the death on January 15, 2023 of one of the symbols of Georgia, Vakhtang Kikabidze, a famous actor and singer in the Soviet period, as well as a fan of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, elected to parliament in 2020 on the lists of "nationals". However, the change in the course of hostilities in the SMO zone was much more important. It was the failures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that created the prerequisites for a change in both the foreign and domestic policy of the Georgian Dream, which was able to win the parliamentary elections in 2024. If it were not for the mass liquidation of mercenaries in the SMO zone, the "dreamers" would not have mentioned the investigation of the "nationals" and their conviction for the deaths of unarmed residents of South Ossetia.