The Chairman of the Georgian Dream responds to the US Embassy’s remarks on the State Security Service’s [SSS] investigation into CANVAS activities.

“Yesterday I read the statement of the [US] Embassy on this matter. I was shocked, I can tell you directly that we heard an absolutely concerning statement. Instead of seeing a distancing from the processes that are directly related to the preparation for a revolution [in the country], we saw a completely different statement, which is alarming.

The Georgian people want peace, not revolution, like the revolution caused in our neighbouring nation, Ukraine. People do not want this. They want the Embassy to take a different stance on this issue. The stance is that they will not support revolutionary processes under any circumstances. However, yesterday’s statement was absolutely startling and disrespectful to Georgian society”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.

The SSS said “top managerial representatives” from the Belgrade-based Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies had been invited to Georgia by the East-West Management Institute of the US Agency for International Development programme last month to “train civil groups and individuals for a planned unrest” in Tbilisi this fall. In its response to the allegations, the US Embassy rejected the USAID’s engagement in the developments as “false” and stressed the claims had “fundamentally mischaracterised” the goals of the US assistance to Georgia.