Lasha Shavdiya | Socialist Platform of Georgia
Dear friends,
First, I would like to thank the organizers of this forum and the comrades who made my participation possible.
Georgia is a pivotal country in the South Caucasus, and regional stability largely depends on its position. It shares a direct border with the Russian Federation and lies in a region still scarred by active conflict zones. The push by NATO and the United States to expand their presence has generated conflicts, complicated relations with the Russian Federation, and created a military-strategic springboard for a potential confrontation with Iran, another neighbor of the South Caucasus.
Since the start of Russia’s “special military operation,” Georgia has faced enormous international pressure to join the anti-Russian coalition. We are being urged to declare economic war on Russia and to launch a military adventure against the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Imposing sanctions would immediately drive up prices for every essential good. Georgia imports its gasoline and natural gas from Russia, along with 95 percent of its wheat flour, buckwheat, vegetable oil, and other critical supplies. Our revenues from tourism—and from the export of Georgian wine and citrus fruits—also depend heavily on the Russian market. In short, embracing anti-Russian sanctions would spell economic disaster for Georgia.
In 2008, Georgia’s attempt—encouraged by Washington—to restore territorial integrity by force led to direct war with Russia. The provocation reignited ethnic animosity, caused casualties, and split Georgia into three parts. Today, Kyiv openly urges Tbilisi to repeat that mistake in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where Russian bases remain. Such an action might trouble Russia but would be catastrophic for Georgia. Ukrainian pressure is only one element of the broader Western campaign.
The Georgian government’s pragmatic foreign policy has preserved peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Yet we must also note official Tbilisi’s markedly anti-Russian stance, which blocks deeper progress toward regional peace. Georgia’s Constitution mandates eventual Euro-Atlantic integration; Tbilisi refuses direct dialogue with Moscow, and diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation remain severed.
Progressive public forces are proposing a different course. The Solidarity for Peace party, the United Communist Party, and the Socialist Platform of Georgia seek to rally society around minimizing NATO involvement. Direct flights between Russia and Georgia have resumed, and visa restrictions for Georgians have been lifted. These purely humanitarian steps have already helped hundreds of thousands of our citizens, improved working conditions, and boosted Russian tourism to Georgia. Russian visitors, in turn, return home as ambassadors of peace and friendship welcomed warmly by Georgians.
Through online platforms and other media, these same movements expose the Kyiv regime, which has turned Ukraine into a military-political battering ram against Russia, encouraged separatist sentiments in the east, and dragged the country into ever-escalating conflict. Georgia has already walked that ruinous road; Ukraine is repeating our mistakes on a much larger scale. Hundreds of thousands of young men have died, and Kyiv appears willing to fight “to the last Ukrainian.” The nation’s gene pool—and beautiful Ukraine itself—is being destroyed. Georgia does not wish to relive such tragedy, and history will hold Kyiv fully responsible.
Dear friends,
One local manifestation of far-right politics is the cynically titled “Charter of Freedom.” By equating fascism with communism, it bans communist ideology and symbols. Ukraine later adopted a similar law. Georgia thus became a testing ground for processes later expanded in Ukraine: right-liberal radicalism fused with Russophobia, rapid militarization, bans on left-wing and anti-war activity, political terror, total surveillance, and ultimately the use of force to settle territorial disputes. All of these hallmarks of modern Nazism were present in Georgia from 2003 to 2012 under the Saakashvili regime—unsurprisingly, Pinochet’s dictatorship was then held up as a model.
Our most urgent task today is to prevent a far-right resurgence that would bring direct NATO-U.S. control, ignite ethnic strife, and provoke military conflict with Russia. Progressive, left-wing, anti-war forces in Georgia are working to avert that outcome, though we are far from equal in strength to our opponents.
Comrades,
The peoples once united in the Soviet Union were split by fomenting ethnic and religious hatred—levers that are still in use. We now see the glorification of Nazi collaborators not only in Ukraine but also across the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Anti-communism and Russophobia provide the ideological bedrock for rehabilitating Nazism. The Kyiv regime is the template for dividing peoples and sowing mutual hostility. Any reintegration of former Soviet peoples into a single economic, cultural, and security space threatens NATO-U.S. interests, whose natural allies are the destructive nationalist forces in every former Soviet republic.
We must also view so-called conservative movements with extreme caution. They can swiftly become NATO’s most dependable partners in our region—and they are on the rise. Conservatism is turning into the official ideology of several CIS states, creating fertile ground for such forces. The West can easily shift its backing to conservative elites. In Georgia we have already witnessed far-right, unconstitutional attempts at revenge carried out with direct assistance from Western diplomats, politicians, and the Kyiv government. Let it be said once more: Kyiv today is the principal incubator of Nazism and far-right radicalism in the post-Soviet space.
In closing, I emphasize that without international coordination it will be exceedingly difficult to resist a far-right revival. This conference is therefore an essential step in uniting progressive forces worldwide.
Thank you again to the organizers, and I wish all of you great success!
