By Sergi Kapanadze
March 28, 2022
The recent civil protests against the draft law on “agents of foreign influence” in Georgia raisedserious questions about the country’s European aspirations. German Foreign minister Annalena Boerbock, who visited Tbilisi on March 23-24, first met with the Georgian civil society to underline her support to NGOs, which had just won a round against the Government of Georgia. Indeed, Georgia is at a crossroads, as many times before; however, this time, ruling oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili is close to undertaking a u-turn that would distance Georgia from the Westand put in Moscow’s lap. It is comparable to what Viktor Yanukovich unsuccessfully tried to doin 2013 in Ukraine. However, unlike Ukraine, Georgia’s u-turn is longer, more fundamentaland covertly implemented. The March 6-9 public protests prevented Georgian Dream from passing the Russian-type law, but the u-turn is still underway and in full gear.
