This thesis is spread by propaganda media and on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. They say that Western countries have found a new puppet for themselves - Georgia - and provoked protests there. They also add in the reports that protests against the Georgian authorities are beneficial for Western states, because they do not want Georgia to be independent of them.

Analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case. They note that there is indeed no evidence that the recent protests in Georgia were orchestrated by Western states as an attempt at a violent change of power.

In fact, the protests in Tbilisi arose after the Georgian parliament passed in the first reading a bill requiring some organizations that receive foreign funding to register as “foreign agents”. As Detector Media has already written, the law is considered analogous to the notorious ban on “foreign agents” in Russia, which actually suppressed the already weak voices of the opposition and made it impossible for international monitoring missions to be present inside the country. The law, adopted by the Georgian Parliament on March 7, 2023, provides for the creation of a register of “agents of foreign influence”. That is, the authorities must create a special open database of organizations and individuals if the share of foreign investments in their activities is at least 20%.

During the protests, Georgian law enforcement officers used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons. However, as a result of massive protests, the Georgian parliament rejected the “foreign agents” bill after the incumbent party withdrew its support.

Russian propagandists reacted to the protest in the first days. In particular, they claimed that the protests in Georgia were orchestrated by the United States. By spreading such messages, propagandists seek to nourish the narrative of so-called Western governance. Allegedly, Georgia is really controlled by Western curators. The same narrative has been circulating in the information space regarding Ukraine for about nine years now. So, Russian propaganda seeks to neutralize the subjectivity of other states; to show that they themselves really do not decide anything.