The head of the NGO “Institute for the Study of Democracy,” Ucha Nanuashvili, stated that the report about him aired on a Russian channel is falsified and edited.

As he explained while speaking to journalists, all of this is Russian propaganda, and Georgia’s de facto government is deliberately spreading these messages.

According to him, in the original recording, he was talking about the involvement of so-called “titushki,” informal, armed, bandit groups, in the beating of citizens during protests in November-December of last year.

“There are various reports being circulated, which were followed by celebrations among fans of Putin, Dugin, and Gavrilov in the Russian media space. Apparently, I’m organizing informal groups and preparing a Maidan in Georgia. Of course, the report that aired on Putin’s main channel in Moscow is falsified and edited. In the original, it’s about something completely different—arguably even the opposite. I was talking about how during the protests in November-December of last year, so-called ‘titushki,’ informal, armed, bandit groups, took part in the beating of citizens, torture, and inhumane treatment. This lawlessness continued for days. Over 500 people were detained, including by these bandits. More than 50 people are still in prison. I was talking about how the government enabled these groups and their actions, and that these armed formations were deployed by the authorities. That’s what the original was about, but in the edited material, it’s presented in a completely different way.

Of course, this is standard Russian propaganda, and Georgia’s de facto government is purposefully spreading these messages. They are also aided by propagandist media, who simply repeat Russian propaganda. They fully trust the narrative of Putin’s TV. Imagine—the main channel of the occupying power broadcasts spliced and falsified footage, and no one questions whether it’s edited? What’s even more unfortunate is that Georgian propagandist media also repeat Russian propaganda,” said Ucha Nanuashvili.

For context, in the Russian broadcast, Ucha Nanuashvili and Salome Zurabishvili were contacted under the false identities of Garry Kasparov and Petro Poroshenko. According to the report, Nanuashvili allegedly stated that due to the “foreign agents” law, foreign funding has become more difficult. In the same conversation, he also supposedly said: “Just like during Ukraine’s Maidan, we also have unofficial units, there are masked civilians.”