We will, of course, need to get clarifications, to why USAID funded such training, the direct purpose of which was to prepare for a revolution in Georgia – we will not allow either a revolution or a second front, this is how Georgian Dream chairman Irakli Kobakhidze responded SSG statement regarding the investigative action against the “Canvas” organization.
As Irakli Kobakhidze pointed out, the scenario is unrest, revolution and the final goal – the second front, which has not been achieved since 2022, when the war in Ukraine began.
According to Kobakhidze, it seems that this goal has not slowed down yet.
“I watched the SSG briefing. You remember that these people at first tried to hide the real purpose of their visit. They talked about the fact that they had meetings and trainings with the representatives of the cultural field, and in fact, it turned out that their goal was to prepare and plan revolutionary processes in our country, which, naturally, is worrying. It’s all the more disturbing that as it turns out all this is funded by the US and the International Development Agency, which is called USAID, the literal translation of the acronym is American aid, and I think it’s not American aid. In this regard, we will, of course, need to receive clarifications, as to why such training was financed by USAID, the direct goal of which was to prepare for the revolution in Georgia. First, there were, you remember, Akerman’s trainings, then there was the “Franklin Club”, a number of other activities, various activities of extremist forces. Now, we see this kind of training, where revolutionary processes are directly discussed. It has been rightly pointed out that the title of these trainings is non-violent activism, but in fact you see that they are talking about directly violent methods that must be used in order to organize a revolution. What is the scenario – chaos, revolution and the end goal we all already know what it is, this is the second front, which they have not achieved since 2022, when the war in Ukraine started. However, it seems that this goal has not yet slowed down, it has retained its relevance. Therefore, we see that such processes are being planned. I repeat, it is especially sad that USAID funding is behind all this. We will need to hear explanations from our friendly state in this regard.
As for revolutionary processes, it can be said unequivocally that, of course, the state will not allow this. Georgia is a sovereign, independent state and we, of course, will take care of peace and tranquility in the country and we will not disturb anyone in this country. We will not allow either the revolution or the second front,” said Kobakhidze
For information, the State Security Service released information about the investigative action conducted against the organization “Canvas” and made public “part of the evidence”.
According to SSG, on September 25, 2023, at the invitation of the East-West Management Institute of the USAID program, Serbian citizens Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stoisic and Slobodan Jinovic arrived in Georgia. According to SSG, these persons are connected with the revolutionary events in Georgia in 2003, and in different years also had connections with similar process in Serbia, Ukraine and other states.
According to SSG, they were actively teaching methods of creating protest drives and tactics of conducting violent actions. As SSG says, they represent the management link of the “Canvas” organization, and also Sinisa Sikman and Slobodan Jinovic are former members of the “Otpor” organization, which was an analog of the Georgian organization “Kmara” in Serbia.
According to the SSG, the declared reason for the arrival of the mentioned persons in Georgia was to conduct trainings for groups working in the field of culture in matters of “strategic non-violent fight”, but the investigation established that this was not the only purpose of their arrival in Georgia. In particular, the real purpose of the visit was to establish communication and conduct trainings with those young people and influential non-governmental organizations, which should become the core of destructive and illegal actions planned in Georgia in October-December of this year.
The State Security Service announces that the conference held on September 26-29, funded by USAID, was organized by “Canvas-Georgia” and the East-West Management Institute. SSG publishes part of the evidence obtained as a result of the secret investigative action against Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stojsic and Slobodan Djinovic.
Related Story: SSSG: Trainings for “revolutionary scenario” were held in Tbilisi under the USAID program
