Ahead of the October municipal elections in Georgia, the ruling Georgian Dream party has turned to the same shameless playbook that it used back in 2024: exploiting its population’s war trauma and insulting the memories of thousands of dead Ukrainians in a ghoulish political ad.
The tactics have drawn an astute rebuke from the Ukrainian government, which highlighted that it is deeply wrong to invoke the war in Ukraine in Georgian Dream campaigning, and that drawing Georgia closer to Russia and away from the West endangers, rather than protects, Georgia in the long run.
Georgian Dream’s newly released video shows a split screen, with footage of war destruction in Ukraine on one side captioned ‘No to war!’, and on the other, glossy clips of Georgian infrastructure and architecture, with ‘Choose peace!’ Perhaps the most heinous inclusions are that of a military graveyard, a couple embracing before the ruins of what was presumably once their home, and actual drones and bombs hitting residential buildings in Ukraine. This is, quite simply, carnage — footage of civilians being murdered in cold blood, by the very Russian forces who did the same to Georgians in 2008 and continue their occupation of the country to this day. And that is to say nothing about the cruelty of exploiting the very real trauma around war that haunts Georgian citizens, for political ends.
Now, Georgian Dream seeks to expand ties with and model its government on the very country that caused this trauma and is currently seeking complete subjugation of Ukraine through force.
‘It is regrettable to observe how the Georgian authorities crawl before Moscow’, Ukraine’s statement aptly reads. It goes on to ‘advise the political technologists of the Georgian ruling party to be honest with their own people’ about the true split screen — ‘the Russian tricolour on the right, and the closed doors of the EU and NATO on the left […] as the current Georgian government has deprived the country not of war but of the European future’.
Indeed, Georgian Dream’s recent ‘accomplishments’ read like a Kremlin wishlist. They include the suspension of Georgia’s EU accession path, an aspiration widely supported by the population, and the loss of Western aid provided by formerly-supportive governments and NGOs. These losses don’t have abstract, long range consequences — they directly hit Georgians’ prosperity.
Directly imported Russian-style authoritarian laws have sparked months of mass protests and trampled human rights in a way that mirrors the start of Russia’s descent into total authoritarianism. Reliance on Russian business and trade is increasing (after years of decline, and despite Russia’s history of economically punishing Georgia). These changes draw Georgia deeper into Russia’s web, directly endangering the Georgian people in the long run.
What endgame does Georgian Dream imagine for their relationship with Russia? It may think that it is protecting itself by opposing Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself from total destruction by Russia. But the very footage they sickeningly exploit shows the way Russia actually treats countries it once called its ‘brother nations’.
Actors that cooperate with Russia are not immune either. Look no further than neighbouring Armenia, where Russia’s so-called ‘security guarantees’ amounted to nothing during Azerbaijan’s incursions into internationally recognised Armenian territory in 2021 and 2022.
Russia is killing Ukraine’s people, and helping to subvert Georgia’s democracy and independence. Georgian Dream is helping them along, while insulting the pain and suffering of Ukrainians. Whatever Georgian Dream propagandists may put forth, Ukrainians and Georgians have a common enemy — Russia.
Thankfully, most in Georgia recognise that. In that spirit, Ukraine’s statement closes with the important note that ‘Ukraine remains consistent and unwavering in its support to the friendly Georgian people in their aspiration to build up an independent, democratic, and European state’. As the people of each country fight their demons, mutual solidarity only becomes more important.
