The Georgian State Security Service strongly implied that the Georgian Legion is behind the latest Western-backed regime change attempt. In their words, “These criminal plans involve Georgian nationals currently based abroad, including some Georgians fighting in Ukraine”, and are financed from overseas. This follows Georgian Legion leader Mamuka Mamulashvili accusing them of being controlled by Russia, which he claims turned Georgia into a puppet state, and embedding its spies within his ranks.
The larger context concerns the US’ efforts to exploit that country’s FARA-inspired foreign agents law for the purpose of replacing its government so as to facilitate military logistics to neighboring Armenia, which the West wants to “poach” from Russia’s CSTO, and possibly open a second front against Moscow. Misguided members of civil society are being manipulated into functioning as de facto human shields for protecting anti-state provocateurs within the protests and spinning the police’s reaction as “oppression”.
The Georgian Legion is one of the most highly trained mercenary groups fighting in Ukraine and has around a decade’s worth of experience in the field. They’re also among the most ruthless and are infamous for the war crimes that they’ve committed. Their leader’s accusations against the Georgian State Security Service amount to a de facto declaration of war against them and are aimed at justifying his group’s involvement in the latest Western-backed regime change attempt.
From the state’s perspective, what was previously considered by some to be a “patriotic organization” that could potentially come in handy one day should another war with Russia occur over Abkhazia and South Ossetia has informally transformed into an anti-state terrorist group under partial foreign control. Should the foreign agents bill enter into law, it’s very possible that the Georgian Legion could receive this label, which its leader is well aware of and knows how widely it could discredit their actions in society.
That might have motivated him to involve his group in the unrest, not only due to his paranoid belief that the Georgian State Security Services are controlled by the Kremlin and supposedly turned their country into a puppet state, but also at the behest of his financial patrons. Just like the Azov Battalion and other ultra-nationalists played a key role in the spree of urban terrorism known as EuroMaidan despite their small numbers, so too does the Georgian Legion envisage doing the same in Tbilisi nowadays.
The West knows that they’re the most radical group in the country with more battlefield experience than even some members of the armed forces themselves so there’s no better way to transform their incipient Color Revolution into a full-fledged Hybrid War than to rely on them to that end. To be clear, it remains to be seen whether the US will authorize that escalation, but it could also happen autonomously at the Georgian Legion’s own initiative and thus create a fait accompli for more foreign “mission creep”.
Furthermore, the state could inadvertently set this sequence into motion by labeling the Georgian Legion as foreign agents should the associated bill enter into law, which complicates the dynamics and shows how easily everything could spiral out of control. At the end of the day, however, Georgia can only sustainably ensure its sovereignty by passing that legislation and applying it against all groups without exception. Therefore, this conflict might very well be inevitable, but it could also backfire on the West.
