Georgia: Ruling Party Links Opposition to Moscow

As opposition parties prepare for a major rally against President Mikheil Saakashvili on April 9, the ruling United National Movement for a Victorious Georgia is probing into what it terms cooperation between some opposition leaders and Russian security services.

"We have information about this and we are looking into the validity of this information," Parliamentary Defense and Security Committee Chairman Givi Targamadze told reporters on March 18.

Opposition leaders described such allegations as a smear campaign meant to deter government critics from showing up at their demonstration.

The comments follow a March 6 Rustavi-2 interview with Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili in which Merabishvili indicated that outside sources were providing funding for opposition parties to spark domestic turmoil. He claimed that an investigation was ongoing.

Meanwhile, on March 17, Parliamentary Chairperson Davit Bakradze added further to that message with the televised remark that individuals in Georgia's opposition have "a Kamikadze mentality," intent on destroying established political structures, the bulletin service Civil.ge reported.

The allegations strike many Georgians as a throwback to the November 2007 police clash with demonstrators, when the government released a series of videos and phone conversations that alleged cooperation between some opposition leaders and the Kremlin.