With transparency bill in force, NGOs would refrain from war propaganda on opening “second front” of Ukraine war in Georgia - PM

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday slammed part of the non-governmental organisations for never denouncing the appeals by Ukrainian officials on opening the “second front” of the ongoing Ukrainian war in Georgia, noting if there had been the law on transparency of foreign influence in force, the NGOs would have refrained from the war propaganda and “would have been more careful about the reputation of [their] donors”.

In his remarks at a press briefing at the Government Administration, Kobakhidze said in 2022, some of the NGOs, together with radical opposition, had “openly joined” the campaign of opening the “second front” by demanding the imposition of sanctions on Russia amid the war in Ukraine, as well as sending Georgian service members in the war with the official approval of the Government.

He explained that imposing economic sanctions on Russia would collapse Georgia’s economy and stressed the Government’s approval of sending volunteers to Ukraine would mean Georgia’s “direct involvement” in the Russia-Ukraine war.

The PM alleged that the non-governmental organisations had attempted to “organise a revolution in Georgia” twice, first during the parliamentary elections in 2020 when one of the NGOs “had spread false information about election results”, and in 2022, when with the funding from relevant sources, they “had taken directly the political stage, demanding the resignation of the Government”.

Kobakhidze stressed if the transparency law had been in force “they would not have dared to do all this”.

The attempts to “attack Georgia’s Orthodox Church and damage its reputation” by some NGOs were also pointed out by the Head of the Government, adding the organisations had “openly supported” activities aimed at “political intervention” in church, encouraging religious extremism.

The bill on transparency of foreign influence calls for the registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.