The first Deputy head of the administration of the President of South Ossetia, Alan Dzhussoev, in an interview with the Res news agency, gave an assessment of the anti-Russian campaign in the Georgian media and spoke in general about his vision of the situation in this country.
First of all, how do you assess the very fact of such riots and the synchronous anti-Russian campaign in the Georgian media?
It is not for the first time that we are seeing the mass nature of the protest in Georgia against the ruling authorities. It began in the late 1980s, with the so-called national liberation movement in Georgia under the leadership of Merab Kostava, Zviad Gamsakhurdia and others.
And if at the end of the 80s, in Soviet times, there were still some restrictions for Western technologists and technologies, and the USSR mass media didn’t have a clear position on such problems at that time, then at the beginning of 2000, with the appearance of new wave leaders, such as Mikhail Saakashvili, Nino Burjanadze and the late Zurab Zhvania, synchronization of anti-government speeches linked to anti-Russian campaigns in the Georgian media has become an everyday reality. Further, this technology was tested in 2004 and 2008, during the active phase of Georgian aggression against South Ossetia.
In 2011, Mrs. Burdzhanadze, who had already become a supporter of improving relations with the Russian Federation, came under a similar skating rink. If you remember, before the next celebration of Georgia’s Independence Day (May 26, - Ed.) On May 25, 2011, a rally was dispersed, killing up to seven people, the leaders declared Moscow’s hand, and the media responded instantly and directed.
Almost the same thing has happened now. Georgia is under external control, and, first of all, this external control occurs through the structures created by the USA that form public opinion in Georgia: the media and various non-governmental organizations. In other words, synchronization is a part of anti-Russian technology that has been developed to automatism, and there is nothing surprising about it.
Do you believe in the spontaneity of the grievance that took place, or were these actions planned in advance and could break out for any reason?
There is no and cannot be spontaneity in the territory, which is controlled from the outside. All attempts to establish interstate relations between the Russian Federation and Georgia are monitored and strictly suppressed. The formal reason for the protests was
the arrival in Tbilisi of the Russian delegation to participate in the plenary session of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy, which was held in the meeting room of the Georgian parliament on June 20, 2019.
The protesters accused the Georgian authorities of having, with their knowledge, the President of the IAO, State Duma Deputy Sergei Gavrilov, took the chair of the parliament and conducted the meeting in Russian, which was perceived by the protesters as an insult and manifestation of the betrayal of national interests on the part of the authorities. Well, and the final speech of the Georgian parliamentarian Akaki Bobakhidze, that he killed in Abkhazia and will kill the Russians! On the same day, up to 7,000 people gathered in the square in front of the parliament building. And then the protest only grew on the thumb and just as abruptly stopped as soon as the anti-Russian speeches of the entire political elite of Georgia were launched. The result has been achieved.
Could these unrest and confrontation with the police be a breakdown of the opposition forces, and, first of all, the National Movement of former President Mikhail Saakashvili, who 16 years ago by force got ousted the then President Shevardnadze?
You can say that this was a test of strength. But here it is important to understand one very important thing. For the US, there is no difference who is in power in Georgia: the position in the face of Bidzina Ivanishvili or the opposition in the face of Saakashvili. As these meetings showed, external management is quite effective and tough. The present authorities in Georgia were given a clear signal that any attempts to establish relations with Moscow will be harshly suppressed until the change of power. It is important for the conditional West in the person of the United States to maintain control over the territory of Georgia, and everything else within the framework of strict control of the territory is not so important.
Considering that behind the unrest there are forces oriented toward the West, which is not very good at Orthodoxy, can we conclude that not only Russian MP Gavrilov and the Russian Federation, but also the MAP as a whole, were the target of the initiators of these mass rallies?
I will say this; Orthodoxy today is the unifying factor of Russian foreign policy. This is not technology created by Russia, but the history of the life of nations and the formation of states for more than half a thousand years. And, of course, this worries the United States, since there is no proper approach to this community, and Orthodoxy is poorly amenable to external regulation. Attempts of this nature were and continue in the former Yugoslavia, in Ukraine, and now the turn has reached Georgia.
I think that with the arrival of the new patriarch in the GOC, the policy and rhetoric regarding the Russian Orthodox Church and Russia as a whole will change dramatically. The United States will not risk leaving such unifying platforms in working condition. The popularization of LGBT people in Georgia is also an attempt to shake the foundations of Orthodoxy. In the future, Georgia is likely to withdraw from the IAO, it is possible to create some other similar body, but without the participation of the Russian Federation.
The "divide and conquer" principle underlies the US foreign policy. It applies to all spheres of life of certain states that the United States considers a zone of its national interests. And in the case of Russian-Georgian relations, the United States will try to reformat the spiritual component as well.
How do you assess the effectiveness of the declared response measures of Russia? Do you already know a sufficient number of factors that allow you to make a forecast about the further development of the situation?
The measures are mainly of an economic nature: according to various estimates, the damage to Georgia from the restrictive measures imposed by the Russian Federation will range from $ 700 million to one billion a year. This is a very large amount for the economy of Georgia. It will hurt the service sector in the Georgian economy, which is mainly concentrated in the hands of small and medium-sized businesses in the country. And in this context, these limitations and damage from them can be massive. But I repeat, Georgia today is a state with a new form of protectorate from the United States.
The countermeasure mechanisms can be the following: it is possible that the logistics of flights to Georgia through third countries will fall sharply in price; prices in the service sector in Georgia will fall; simplify entry to Georgia through checkpoints with third countries; will try to attract tourists from other countries. There were statements by some Georgian officials about inviting citizens of Ukraine, although their purchasing power is no match for Russia. But in general, the restrictions will be painful and may have a tendency to expand in other areas, it will depend on what further steps Georgia will take.
And one more question. Today, negotiations are underway in Geneva, which are complicated against the background of deteriorating Georgian-Russian relations. This point of view was expressed on Tuesday by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, the negotiator from the Georgian side, Lasha Darsalia. Should we expect any results from the meeting?
I do not think that there will be any results at the meeting in Geneva. Georgia to the Russian Federation has always been consumer. She will ask to lift the restrictions unilaterally, but she will not offer something in return. Georgia is limited in external proposals by the US national interests in the region, and mentally by its consumer attitude towards the Russian Federation, which was formed in the Soviet era. This is a fact that has been confirmed several times over the past 25–30 years.
Assessing everything that happened in Georgia since June 20 of this year, it can be argued for sure that the domestic and foreign policy of the authorities in Georgia is working to respect the interests of the United States in Georgia, no more.
The United States strictly controls all government bodies in the country and they still have and will have effective mechanisms for influencing power in Georgia, whatever it may be. In today's Georgia, those who are not loyal to the United States will not be allowed to come to power.
All possible sites or mechanisms of interaction with the Russian Federation, which from the point of view of the United States can lead to a reduction or leveling of their influence on Georgia, will be destroyed or reformatted.
It is also possible and necessary to state the fact that anti-Russian sentiments in Georgia are not a notion of the past 30 years and the foundation of such sentiments was laid a long time ago, like in Ukraine. Work in this regard is carried out throughout the post-Soviet space and not only.
Assessing everything that happened in Georgia since June 20 of this year, it can be argued for sure that the domestic and foreign policy of the authorities in Georgia is working to respect the interests of the United States in Georgia, no more.
The United States strictly controls all government bodies in the country and they still have and will have effective mechanisms for influencing power in Georgia, whatever it may be. In today's Georgia, those who are not loyal to the United States will not be allowed to come to power.
All possible sites or mechanisms of interaction with the Russian Federation, which from the point of view of the United States can lead to a reduction or leveling of their influence on Georgia, will be destroyed or reformatted.
It is also possible and necessary to state the fact that anti-Russian sentiments in Georgia are not a notion of the past 30 years and the foundation of such sentiments was laid a long time ago, like in Ukraine. Work in this regard is carried out throughout the post-Soviet space and not only.
