GEORGIA: A Counterterrorism Operation & more – 27th Feb 2025

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 27th of February twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

On Thursday, the 20th, the State Security Service announced the detention of two Georgian citizens on charges of being part of a foreign terrorist organization and assisting in terrorist activities. During raids at multiple locations across the country, security services seized weapons, a large amount of cash, and explosives. The counterterrorism department carried out the operation.

The security service believes that the individuals have connections with ISIS, as the group's flag was found during the raid. There has been no information released regarding any planned terrorist attacks in Georgia or neighboring countries. Russia, in particular, has faced threats from ISIS and struggles with radicalization within its large Muslim population.

In the meantime, The Ministry of Internal Affairs is purchasing a digital system from the Israeli company Cellebrite, which will enable access to encrypted and locked phones, computers, and other electronic devices. The purchase cost is almost 7,000,000 Lari, which is 2,500,000 Dollars.

Cellebrite is a digital intelligence company that provides products for criminal investigations, enabling data extraction from various operating systems like Android, Apple, Microsoft, Linux, and cloud platforms.

The system will likely be used against pro-European demonstrators, as many individuals detained during protests have reported that the police demanded they unlock their phones and threatened physical violence if they refused.

In international news. On Monday, the 24th, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution initiated by Ukraine and European countries, calling for Russia to withdraw its troops from internationally recognized Ukrainian territories and cease hostile actions. Ninety-three countries supported the resolution, eighteen opposed it, and sixty-five abstained. The U.S. and Russia did not support the resolution, and Georgia chose not to participate in the vote.

Georgia was the cosponsor of a failed alternative resolution proposed by the U.S., which also called for an end to the conflict but took a more conciliatory approach towards Russia, refraining from labeling it as an aggressor or setting specific demands.

Talking about Georgia and the U.S, on Sunday, the 23rd, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the ruling party aims to reset relations with the U.S. and renew the strategic partnership from scratch with a clear roadmap. He emphasized that the relationship between Georgia and the U.S. would improve if Trump defeated the Deep State. This conspiracy theory has become a staple of the Georgian Dream or the Kotsebi, who blame every setback in the international arena on this mythical shadowy organization that tries to undermine Georgia.

Kobakhidze acknowledged that Trump has many issues to address, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which means that Georgia is not on his mind right now, but he believes that eventually, the U.S. will seriously focus on Georgian-American relations.

Next Up. On Friday, the 21st, the daily protest march from the Public Broadcaster building to Rustaveli Avenue was disrupted when two men attempted to attack participants while wielding a sharp machete-like weapon and a baseball bat. The two men stopped their car next to the demonstrators, shouted at them, and threatened them with their weapons. After a brief altercation, the attackers were forced to return to their car and leave the scene.

Despite the presence of the police, they did not intervene. The two individuals were later arrested for hooliganism but were released after twenty-four hours.

We’ve got a video of the incident, you can check it out with the link in the show notes.

Speaking of Broadcasting, on Monday, the 24th, the Kotsebi’s parliamentary bureau introduced amendments to the Broadcasting Law to limit media freedom. The changes aim to limit the funding broadcasters can receive from foreign entities, whether direct or indirect, like buying broadcasting services or financing television programs. This will not apply to commercial ads, telemarketing or product placement. The amendments also added a new rule preventing broadcasters from accepting funding in exchange for airing social ads.

The term foreign entities covers foreign governments, non-citizens, or companies not based in Georgia.

On that note, according to a draft amendment to the Gender Equality law, the Kotsebi plans to remove the term gender from the country's legislation. The term gender equality will be replaced with equality of women and men in the law's title and text.

The amendment argues that the term gender was artificially introduced through foreign influence and lobbying. It says that gender does not align with Georgian values and creates barriers for the state. The draft also eliminates requirements for various parliamentary gender equality councils at the national and local levels, saying it will save resources.

Instead, it focuses on raising awareness about equality between men and women, with a proposed budget of 50,000 lari, which is 18,000 Dollars, for awareness campaigns and women's empowerment initiatives.

On Wednesday, the 26th, Peter Fischer, Germany’s ambassador to Georgia, announced on Twitter that his country is freezing scientific cooperation with Georgia because of the country’s restriction of academic freedom and the halt in the EU accession process. The German Ministry of Education and Research has suspended the renewal of the Georgia-Germany cooperation, including student mobility, research, and Georgia's involvement in EU programs.

In the last few days, a massive snowstorm has hit western Georgia, particularly the Guria region, causing deaths, injuries, and severe property damage. In some parts of Guria, people remain without power and are completely cut off from the outside world. Residents have shared photos and videos of the damage online, with many trapped in their homes and unable to get help. Follow the link in the show notes to check them out.

A man died in the village of Konchkati while trying to help a neighbor clear snow off a roof. In the village of Natanebi, a woman passed away, leaving her elderly mother alone, with neighbors unable to reach them.

Energo-Pro Georgia has sent extra teams from across the country to restore power, but the heavy snow makes it difficult for them to access hard-to-reach areas. The situation remains critical in rural regions.

Despite the Kotsebi’s insistence that no new parliamentary elections will be held till twenty twenty-eight, on Wednesday, the 26th, President Zourabishvili shared a roadmap for new elections on her Facebook page. She outlined five key steps: 1. Setting election conditions 2. Preparing election commissions and observers 3. Protecting elections from fraud with international partners' involvement, 4. Coordinating political forces for the new elections, and 5. Creating a unified election program called The Georgian Charter, with priorities such as releasing political prisoners, abolishing the Russian law, and restoring a fair judiciary.

Shifting gears, according to the twenty twenty-four Global Peace Index (or GPI), Armenia is the most peaceful country among its neighbors. This might come as a bit of a surprise since it has been just two years since it was attacked by Azerbaijan and the peace between two south caucasian countries seems fickle at the moment.

Despite this, Armenia ranks seventy-seventh, while Georgia holds the 100th position out of 163 countries. Azerbaijan ranks 106th, and Turkey is placed at 139th. First place on the list was awarded to Iceland, while the dubious honor of least peaceful country to live in went to Yemen.

The GPI, developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace, measures peace through three key areas: societal safety, internal and international conflict levels, and militarization.

On a similar note. According to Freedom House's latest report, Georgia remains a partially free country with a score of fifty-five out of 100, down by three points from last year. The organization gave Georgia twenty-one out of forty for political rights and thirty-four out of sixty for civil liberties.

According to the report, while competitive elections and an active media and civil society exist, oligarchic influences affect politics, and opposition figures face physical attacks. Corruption also remains a problem, and media freedom is limited by threats and pressure on journalists. The report also mentions widespread violence during protests, where security forces use disproportionate force.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

In case you didn’t know, besides the Rorshok GeorgiaUpdate, we also do others! We’ve got many country updates from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. But we also have non-country updates, including the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, the Multilateral Update, about the world’s major multilateral institutions, and the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water,

If you want to check out the full list of updates, go to https://rorshok.com/updates/. The link is in the show notes.

Nakhvamdis!