Georgia’s Pro-Kremlin Parties are Growing Stronger

Executive Summary:

• The Georgian State Registry re-registered “Conservatives for Georgia,” a pro-Russian party tied to political violence and anti-Western rhetoric, signaling the ruling Georgian Dream party’s continued effort to consolidate pro-Russian forces ahead of elections.
• Ultranationalist groups, originally civil movements promoting anti-Western propaganda, have gained political traction in Georgia through riots, symbolic attacks on European symbols, and strategic support from Georgian Dream.
• Georgian Dream can orchestrate a façade of democracy through competing against other pro-Russian parties while sidelining opposition parties in elections.
• The Kremlin aims to install pro-Russian elites in Georgia who promote narratives about Georgian reunification with Russia. Georgian Dream’s dominance enables Russia’s agenda to isolate Georgia from the West under the guise of national sovereignty.

On April 22, the Georgian State Registry, under the Ministry of Justice, registered yet another pro-Russian political party in Georgia, called “Conservatives for Georgia” (Netgazeti.ge, April 23). This group was originally removed from Georgia’s political party registry in 2024 and now appears to have been re-registered, likely as part of an attempt by the ruling Georgian Dream party to solidify the influence of pro-Russian parties in the Georgian government. Members of this group have engaged in political violence, promoted anti-Western accusations, and met with Russian officials to promote Georgian-Russian relations (OC-Media, April 24). This marks a further trajectory toward a pro-Russian, far-right regime no longer aligned with the West.

Until 2021, these ultraconservatives operated as a civil movement and introduced anti-Western propaganda through social networks and their television channel Alt-Info. In July 2021, with support from Georgian Dream, Georgia’s pro-Russian ruling political party, members of the ultraconservative movement staged mass riots in Tbilisi. Dozens of journalists and civil activists were injured as a result (YouTube/@Formula News, July 5, 2022). During these riots, ultraconservatives tore down and burned the flag of the European Union, which was hanging in front of the country’s parliament building. On the same day, radical groups illegally erected an iron cross in front of the parliament building, which remains in that place to this day (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 9, 2021).

After these events, the ultraconservative movement was able to seamlessly register as a political party in January 2021 under the name of the Conservative Movement. Three months later, this party opened 60 local offices in the regions of Georgia at a time when no other party in Georgia, except the ruling party, had such a wide reach (Netgazeti.ge, March 18, 2024). This movement was the original propagator of accusations against Western ambassadors of interfering in Georgia’s internal affairs (Myth Detector, August 1, 2022). Only later did Georgian Dream repeat similar rhetoric.

In April 2024, Georgia’s National Agency of Public Registry deregistered the Conservative Movement as a political party ahead of the October 2024 parliamentary elections (1TV; National Agency of Public Registry of Georgia, April 8, 2024). Georgians largely understood this revocation to mean that Georgian Dream no longer had any use of the Conservative Movement’s support or services in government. By this time, Georgian Dream itself had already formed as a clearly pro-Russian party, and the conservative movement had become an unnecessary burden for the ruling elite.

The conservatives have tried to re-register the party for almost a year, but to no avail. To participate in the 2024 parliamentary elections, another pro-Russian party, the Alliance of Patriots, provided them with its electoral list. As a result, the two groups together received only 2.44 percent of the votes, which is 50,599 people (Central Election Commission of Georgia, November 16, 2024). These ultraconservatives have never hidden the fact that they receive financial support from Russia (Civil Georgia, August 8, 2020; iFact, January 8, 2024). In 2022, one of the leaders of the Conservatives for Georgia, Konstantin Morgoshia, stated that the party would “be financially stable because there were people, including from Russia, who would support them” (FormulaNews, March 14, 2022).

Georgian Dream has recently targeted foreign financing of political parties, which has always been prohibited in the country’s legislation, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the media (see EDM, March 13, 2023, April 24, May 22, 2024, February 11). Georgian Dream has not targeted any financial support from Russia for political parties in Georgia. Any recipients of U.S. and European donor money, however, are considered agents of foreign countries and enemies of Georgia’s sovereignty.

Georgia’s local elections in October this year will imitate democracy with the increasing number of pro-Russian parties competing with each other without real opposition forces. Georgian Dream has admitted that the re-registration of Conservatives for Georgia party is connected to the upcoming local elections (YouTube/@TV Pirveli, April 24). Most pro-Western parties will likely not participate as they consider the elections to be rigged (Civil Georgia, April 23). The first deputy chairman of the single-party parliament of Georgia, Giorgi Volski, who actively advocates for banning all pro-Western parties, justified the registration of Conservatives for Georgia by claiming that he is “a supporter of the possibility of free choice in Georgia” (YouTube/@TV Pirveli, April 24). One of the Conservatives for Georgia leaders, businessman Konstantin Morgoshia, confirmed that the main agenda of his party will be participation in both local government elections and possible early parliamentary elections (YouTube/@TV Pirveli, April 24). Morgoshia and the other party leader, Zurab Makharadze, were included in the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program by the U.S. Treasury Department in September 2024 as “Extremists for Serious Human Rights Abuse” (U.S. Department of the Treasury, September 16, 2024).

The return of the ultraconservative movement to Georgian political life has coincided with a new macro-state initiative proposed by Kremlin ideologist and Russian ultranationalist Alexander Dugin. Dugin has close ties to Georgian ultraconservatives and recently claimed that the post-Soviet space requires restructuring, and that a new macro-state must be formed, which would include Russia, Georgia, and Georgia’s two separatist regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Dugin stated, “We cannot establish this state without Georgia” (Dzen News, April 14).

Solidarity for Peace, another pro-Kremlin party, became more active in Georgian politics after being registered in 2023 (Interpress News, December 18, 2023). This party did not participate in the 2024 parliamentary elections to avoid interfering with Georgian Dream’s success in gaining votes from pro-Russian voters. This time, Solidarity for Peace is actively engaging in propaganda work in favor of Georgia’s rapprochement with Russia and, in essence, is promulgating the reunification of Georgia with the Russian world. Solidarity for Peace considers the existence of an independent Georgian state to be “destructive” and advocates for a “close military-political alliance with Russia” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, August 26, 2024). The party’s leader is a Russian businessman of Georgian origin, Mamuka Pipia, who lives in Moscow. Speaking to Russian media, Pipia complained that there are very few Russian schools in Georgia (Facebook/@Tatia Meqvabishvili, April 24). This party also has close ties with Georgian Dream. Local media associate this party with the former Prosecutor General of Georgia in the Georgian Dream government, Otar Partskhaladze (Myth Detector, November 11, 2024). Partskhaladze is currently a citizen of Russia and has also been sanctioned by the United States on charges of collaborating with Russian special services (Formula News, September 14, 2023).

United Neutral Georgia, along with the ruling Georgian Dream party, is Georgia’s most active pro-Russian group. This group, created in July 2024, positions itself as a civil movement as it does not have the status of a political party, but this is likely only a matter of time  (YouTube/@TV IMEDI, July 10, 2024). United Neutral Georgia advocates declaring Georgia a neutral country and opposes Georgia’s rapprochement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union. The movement declares that “Georgia must free itself from the political captivity of the topic of European integration” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February 10).

The leaders of United Neutral Georgia are former representatives of Georgian Dream.  Levan Nikolaishvili, one of the founders who graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the NATO Defense College, served as the Chief of the General Staff of Georgia in 2005–2006 (NPLG, accessed April 28). Petre Mamradze, another leader of United Neutral Georgia, formerly served in the administration of former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze. Mamradze propagandizes “the spiritual crisis and rapid degradation of liberalism in the West” (1TV, July 23, 2024). In coordination with Georgian Dream, United Neutral Georgia is actively fighting against pro-Western parties in Georgia. In January, the movement filed a lawsuit with the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office demanding that an investigation be launched to identify the Western spy network operating in Georgia (1TV, January 18). The office of Georgian Dream’s prosecutor general, Giorgi Gabitashvili, responded to United Neutral Georgia’s lawsuit by opening a criminal case on February 8 under the articles of the criminal code concerning sabotage, attempted sabotage, and assistance in hostile activities (The Prosecution Service of Georgia, February 10). Gabitashvili has been sanctioned by both the United Kingdom and Estonia for human rights violations against Georgian citizens (Republic of Estonia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, December 15, 2024; HM Treasury, April 10).[added these for context]

Pro-Russian parties, including Georgian Dream, currently benefit most from the isolation of Georgia from the European Union and the West, to more actively put forward their geopolitical initiatives as an alternative. Recent reports indicate that the European Union is preparing to suspend Georgia’s visa-free travel privileges for Georgians (Civil Georgia, April 29). Georgian Dream perceived this news as blackmail from the European Union (Civil Georgia, April 18). Georgian officials have stated that it is more important to reject “the anti-national and anti-Christian policies that the ‘deep state’ is trying to impose on Georgia” than the EU visa-free regime (Jam-News, April 18). The leader of the parliamentary majority, Mamuka Mdinaradze, stated that if the Georgian state withstands this test of losing its visa-free privileges with the European Union, then Georgia will finally establish itself as a sovereign state (Facebook/@Mamuka Mdinaradze, April 24). Former Georgian president, Salome Zourabichvili, stated that the regime’s [meaning Georgian Dream’s] goal is to end visa liberalization with the European Union and isolate Georgia from Europe (X/@Zourabichvili_S, April 23).

All pro-Russian political parties in Georgia are pursuing isolation from the Western world and rapprochement with Russia. Before each election in Georgia, the Kremlin places pro-Russian actors in key positions to direct political outcomes in the country. The Kremlin demonstrates trust in the establishment of new pro-Russian parties to businessmen of Georgian origin who are closely connected with the Russian business elite. The pro-Russian party “Nation,” founded in 2021 by Russian businessman of Georgian origin, Levan Vasadze, has failed to influence the country’s political life (Mtavari.tv, May 6, 2021). The civil movement “Unity, Essence, Hope,” which includes representatives of Nation together with another ultra-right and pro-Russian party, Georgian March,  have participated several times in mass riots in Tbilisi against civil activists (Civil Georgia, June 2, 2021).  In 2019, Vasadze organized so-called civilian volunteer units to fight against LGBT activists (Netgazeti.ge, June 19, 2019)

The most successful project of the Kremlin thus far appears to be Georgian Dream. If the ruling Georgian Dream is pursuing a pro-Russian policy, then the Kremlin has every incentive to encourage the emergence of many other pro-Russian parties in Georgia. It is noteworthy that King Erekle II (who Russians called Irakli II) headed the Eastern Georgian kingdom, the kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti, and in 1783 signed an alliance treaty with Russia, which ultimately ended with the annexation of all of Georgia. The editor-in-chief of the Russian propaganda media RT, Margarita Simonyan, recently stated that “we will still see how the new kings of Irakli II, on their knees, will again beg Mother Russia to take them home” (SOVA, April 14). The Kremlin appears eager to create the illusion that it is not Russia that is trying to involve Georgia in a new union state, but, on the contrary, that such a desire supposedly comes from Georgian society, and unification with Russia is supposedly in the interests of Georgia.