Mar 12: Peter Tiede, This is how Putin wants to keep Georgia under his thumb- Letter from Prison
As published in Bild on March 10, 2023
Peter Tiede, This is how Putin wants to keep Georgia under his thumb- Bild
Prisoner writes prison letter to Baerbock
It's less than 200 kilometers from his feudal swanky palaces on the Black Sea in Sochi through the Caucasus valleys to Georgia. Russian leader Vladimir Putin (70) wants to keep the ex-Soviet republic under Moscow's thumb.
32 years after the Declaration of Independence. As in the Ukraine, there should be no way to the West.
The danger: Putin could open up the next front in his battle for the old Soviet Union in Georgia, alongside Ukraine and Moldova. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (45) himself warned of this and expressed his solidarity with the pro-Western Georgians on Wednesday evening.
Because in the Caucasus, the warlike Russian leader is reaching for the homeland of mass murderer and Soviet leader Stalin! And also uses his instrument box.
Unlike in Ukraine, he has already come a long way in Tbilisi. The EU has put the accession negotiations with the Caucasus state on hold: too close to Moscow! Too brutal and undemocratic! Georgia is regressing after 32 years of independence!
And like years ago in Ukraine, Putin is also trying a Moscow oligarch in the Caucasus. In Georgia it is Bidzina Ivanishvili (67) with his governing party "Georgian Dream". The oligarch, who was once prime minister himself, plays with his puppet troupe in Tbilisi's Moscow theater with show trials, the media brought into line with the law, occupational bans and crazy laws:
Former head of state Mikheil Saakashvili (55) is in prison with an untreated heavy metal poisoning and after a show trial as a political prisoner. He is certain: "Putin wants to kill me."
︎ The government wants to introduce Moscow-style laws. The most recent example: In Georgia too, groups and NGOs should be branded as foreign agents who receive money from abroad. In contrast, hundreds of thousands took to the streets at the beginning of the week – the government had to stop the law.
︎ Troll factories and pro-government or Moscow-related companies are used to conduct hate and smear campaigns against everything “liberal” or “western” on the Internet. Opposition media are banned, critical journalists are attacked or imprisoned.
One of the reasons why Georgia has now been downgraded from the EU's list of candidate countries is 46 years old and in prison for 3.5 years: Nika Gvaramia, media manager and TV station boss.
Officially, he is in prison because he gave his wife a car from his TV station for the dog run in the park (damage: 24,000 euros). But the EU Parliament and the Georgian opposition see him as a political prisoner. A hostage of Russia and its puppet government in Tbilisi.
Because Gvaramia, one of the most famous journalists in the country, ran one of the most important independent TV channels in the country, the channel "Mtavari". Its journalists uncovered the pro-Russian government's covert aid to Moscow in the Ukraine conflict and Moscow's influence on the government. Topics in the programs: corruption, abuse of office - and the affairs of the Putin oligarch.
Prison letter to Baerbock
The EU Parliament sees his case as typical of how far Georgia has strayed from the West under Moscow's influence: last year, MEPs denounced the restrictions on media freedom and the persecution of journalists in a resolution. Explicitly referring to the Gvaramia case, the resolution states: The case is an "attempt to silence a voice critical of the government".
Gvaramia himself has now addressed Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (42, Greens) in a letter smuggled out of prison (available to BILD). In the Kassiber he expressly asks for Germany's help for his country. Georgia is moving away from the West, being taken over “coldly” by Russia.
The letter to Baerbock says: "I would be happy if the West no longer regarded Georgia only as a geopolitical factor and no longer pursued purely a policy of stability." First and foremost, it had to be about "the values and interests of the EU, about free democracy “ Go in the region.
Georgia suffers from an authoritarian system". Georgia is "moving faster and faster into Russia's sphere of influence". He warns: "The roots of the European family are being cut more and more."
The FDP member of the Bundestag Thomas Hacker (55) knows the case and demands the release of Gvaramia. He says to BILD: "The Nika Gvaramia case is symbolic of the precarious situation of press freedom and political and oligarchic influence on the judiciary."
If the government in Tbilisi is serious about the EU ambitions, there is no way around more freedom of the press: "The release of Nika Gvaramia would be a strong signal in the right direction."
“Hundreds of thousands demonstrated in Georgia on Wednesday evening against the agent law and the government's course on Russia. Many carried Ukraine flags and sang the anthem of the country invaded by Russia in solidarity. Ukraine President Zelenskyy thanked them in a speech: “We want to be in the European Union – and we will be. We want Georgia to be in the European Union - and I'm sure it will be."
Earlier, at the demonstrations in front of the parliament, the opposition and various protest groups had formed an alliance for the release of Nika Gvaramia. Because the formula is now - also thanks to the EU Parliament - a simple one: If Gvaramia doesn't get out of jail, Georgia won't come close to the EU. A reason for the pro-Russians in the country to let it stew for as long as possible.