Longtime journalist Edward Lucas spoke with RFE/RL’s Georgian Service about what’s in store for Georgians and their Caucasus nation following disputed national elections.
Day: October 31, 2024
Russia Kursk region . Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were encircled in the Kursk region. He was likely referring to a group of several hundred Ukrainian troops who retreated from the village of Olgovka, east of Korenevo, and took cover in the Olgovskaya Grove — a large forest southeast of Olgovka, along the Korenevo-Sudzha road.
Reports have surfaced that Alexander Malkevich, the founder of a Russian propaganda network in the occupied Ukrainian territories, was in Tbilisi on October 26, the day of the parliamentary elections. The international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders was among those who broke the news noting that the organization “is alarmed by the role of this Kremlin’s relay in the proliferation of Russian disinformation in Georgia.”
Markian Kuzmowycz, a digital threat analyst wrote on his X account on October 30: “Kremlin propagandist Alexander Malkevich, sanctioned for meddling in US elections and responsible for much of RU propaganda in occupied Ukraine, has been on the ground in Tbilisi for several days.
Malkevich, a St. Petersburg media manager who has been sanctioned by several countries, including Ukraine and the U.S., for his illegal propaganda activities, was a close associate of the notorious Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The investigative report on Malkevich published by the RSF says that Malkevich “has major resources at his disposal” and “has been able to channel funds, with an influx of personnel, mostly from his native Saint Petersburg, to media in the occupied Ukrainian Donbass.”
RSF shows the details of the system set up by Malkevich saying he has considerable resources at his disposal. The investigation shows that “he has been able to channel funds and an influx of personnel, mostly from his native St. Petersburg, to media in the occupied Ukrainian Donbass.”
RSF said its sources in the Ukrainian occupied territories confirmed the launch of several channels upon the arrival of Malkevich, “who has taken charge of local broadcast propaganda.” He had taken control of broadcasting in the Ukrainian regions of Mariupol, Kherson and Melitopol in 2022 marking a new stage of the war that “Putin’s chef” is waging against the West.
Notably, Bulgarian investigative journalist and analyst Christo Grozev before the October 26 elections said that Russian intelligence leaks show Putin wants to rig Georgia election results and bloodshed will follow. According to him the “recently leaked intelligence from European services (published by Bloomberg) revealed that Russian intelligence services have hacked and penetrated key strategic IT infrastructure of the Georgian government, including the central election committee.” He further predicted: “All of this points to a hypothetical scenario of an “electoral victory in a box” carried out remotely by Russian intelligence, followed by a violent crackdown on the ground.”
Opposition parties have denounced the results of the October 26 elections, which election monitors say were marred by widespread violations that significantly affected the outcome. President Zurabishvili rejected the election results saying on October 27: “We were witnesses and victims of a Russian special operation, a new type of hybrid warfare waged against our people.”
Russia is known to have interfered in the election process in various countries, including the 2020 U.S. elections. Evidence indicate at massive Russian interference in the recent presidential elections in Moldova.