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SNIPERS trained in Ukraine have allegedly arrived in Georgia amid mass protests against the result of last weekend’s parliamentary election.
Thousands of Georgians massed outside the parliament building in Tbilisi on Monday night, demanding the annulment of last weekend’s election, which President Salome Zourabichvili has alleged was rigged with Russian help.
Russian news agency Tass reported on Monday that a source in the region has alleged that snipers trained in Ukraine are arriving in Georgia to “organise provocations” during the anti-government protests.
“In their attempts to knock off balance the internal political situation in Georgia following the election and set off another colour revolution, Westerners stop at nothing. Ukraine-trained snipers are arriving in the republic to organise provocations during mass protests,” the source told Tass.
Snipers fired on crowds during the 2014 “Maidan” coup in Ukraine, and the accusation that they were state security agents helped topple the Viktor Yanukovych government — but the shooters have never been identified or brought to trial, with a famous leaked phone call between then EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and then Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet lending credence to claims they were far-right provocateurs.
According to the Central Election Commission, the governing Georgian Dream party had received 54.8 per cent of the vote, but opposition parties have refused to accept the result.
On Monday night, Ms Zourabichvili told the demonstrators the election result was “a preplanned operation that robbed us of our votes, our parliament, and our constitution.”
She provided no evidence of Russian interference in the election.
Giorgi Vashadze, leader of the Unity — National Movement coalition, said that his party would not enter into any negotiations with the government, vowing: “We are going to fight until victory and, we promise you, we will definitely win together.”
Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, a member of Georgian Dream, accused the president of creating “a coup scenario” that goes “against the constitutional order and democratic elections.”
