Is the Georgian opposition under Moscow’s wing?

The head of the Democratic party, Gia Tortladze, has announced that the campaign run by the opposition parties, which are planning to start protest actions on 9th April demanding Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation, is being financed from Russia. This allegation was made on the talk show "Accents" on Channel One (the Public Broadcaster) of Georgian television.

In an interview with your GeorgiaTimes correspondent, the leader of the Democrats expressed his conviction that Russia was interested in destabilizing Georgia and therefore was now undermining the country from within. Gia Tortladze noted that he came to this conclusion after studying advice given by Russian political commentators on the internet to invest money in the Georgian opposition. "There are some concrete examples," thinks Tortladze. "Many parties didn't even have any money to fill their cars with petrol, but now they are renting offices. They pay high salaries." Your GeorgiaTimes correspondent asked whether that also meant that Salome Zurabishvili, who initiated the ultimatum which runs out on 9th April, has agreed to be financed by Moscow. After all, she has never concealed her hostility towards Russia. "In this context, we are not talking about Salome Zurabishvili," noted the leading Democrat.

Of course, the opposition has been quick to respond to these allegations. On the same talk show, one of the leaders of the Conservative party, Kakha Kukava, denied this statement, calling it "PR initiated by the authorities".

As a result of all kinds of increasingly frequent allegations being made against her, the leader of the "Democratic Movement - A United Georgia", Nino Burjanadze, issued a special statement a few days ago: "We can't rule out that Mikheil Saakashvili's government is actually behind this ‘black PR'".

In turn, GeorgiaTimes has asked some Russian and Georgian political analysts to comment on this issue.

Vyacheslav Igrunov, Director of the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Research: "Let's start with what is unclear: will a new regime, if we assume that it will be formed by the opposition, be more favourable to Moscow? If not, there's no point investing any money. Moreover, now the Kremlin follows the principle that everyone needs to pay for themselves." At the same time, the Russian expert thinks that there are different opinions in both Russia and Georgia. "There is a line," he says, "orientated towards confrontation. But there is another one tending towards a normalization of relations with Georgia. At the moment Moscow is reacting to the situation, rather than controlling it. If Tbilisi follows more balanced policies, Russia will be prepared to meet them half-way.

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