Beka Chedia
On August 2, Irma Inasvhili, one of the founders of the Georgian pro-Russian political party Alliance of Patriots, posted her faction’s open letter to “Your Excellency,” Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking for his assistance in repairing cooperation between their two countries. The Alliance of Patriots informs Putin—the head of a state that has occupied 20 percent of Georgia’s territory since August 2008—that the party shares the Kremlin’s concerns about Georgian cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and has already developed a concept for Georgia’s military neutrality (Facebook.com, August 2). The published letter (signed by dozens of former parliamentary deputies, previous officials and even retired generals) claims that the majority of the Georgian population supports neutrality. But opinion polls show that the opposite is true: 77 percent of Georgians (61 percent fully and 16 percent somewhat) back Georgia joining NATO (Iri.org, August 2).
Russian Interference in Georgian Politics: The Activation of Ultra-Right Forces – Jamestown
