Public movement Popular Force condemns US Ambassador for not distancing herself from “war rhetoric”

Popular Force, a newly launched public movement composed of the former ruling Georgian Dream party MPs who exited the team in June, on Thursday released a statement saying the actions of Kelly Degnan, the United states Ambassador to Georgia, “reinforce people's belief that the radical agenda of the radical [domestic] opposition is coordinated by the United States Embassy”.

The statement came from the movement involving the MPs who left GD following a disagreement over the public relations strategy with the rest of the faction, and alleged Degnan’s failure to distance herself from “politically motivated pressure” on a Tbilisi City Court judge “reinforces people's belief that the radical agenda of the radical opposition is coordinated by the Embassy”.

When the US Ambassador does not distance herself from the politically motivated pressure on the judge, the attempt to discredit the [Georgian] Government and the unsubstantiated allegations about informal governance, [and] the rhetoric of war, and conceals the information about the content of [her] meeting with [former Georgian PM] Bidzina Ivanishvili - all this, of course, reinforces people's belief that the radical agenda of the radical opposition is coordinated by the Embassy”, the statement said.

The statement noted there could be “only one logical explanation” for Degnan’s refusal to answer questions about the latest developments in the country, adding “the Embassy plans to direct efforts to inflame polarisation and coordinate the actions of the radical opposition aimed at the change of the Government”.

We posed a very specific question to the US Ambassador: did the Ambassador express her displeasure with the [Georgian] Government's policy regarding the war [in Ukraine] at the meeting [with Ivanishvili]? Did she request Ivanishvili to return to politics on this basis? Did she request an imposition of sanctions on Russia [by the Georgian Government]?”, the statement also said.

The newly launched movement’s remarks also said the US Embassy in Georgia held “no hope that they would drag Georgia into the war” under the Georgia­n Dream Government and “that is why the Embassy tried persistently before and after the Parliamentary elections [in 2020] to bring the [opposition] United National ­Movement and its satellites to power”. 

The implementation of the revolutionary scenario began three years ago. Everyone remembers well how the [US] Embassy forced the [Georgian] Government to release Ugulava and Okruashvili [opposition leaders] from prison, and to change the electoral system in favour of the United National Movement and its satellites”, the statement noted.

The members of Popular Force movement stressed their statement was not being released to “discredit” the US Embassy or “take revenge” on it, but because “the threat of unrest and war facing Georgia has not been completely removed yet”.

The fact that the Embassy regularly reminds [the public] about Bidzina Ivanishvili's influence can have only one reason - the Embassy is obviously nervous that Bidzina Ivanishvili is not using his influence in [Georgian] politics today. The Embassy wants Bidzina Ivanishvili to use this influence and come back [to political involvement] to drag Georgia into the war”, the statement said.