As Georgian protesters marched on parliament against a new “foreign agents” law last week, they bore signs that said “No to Russian law!”, and others decrying the spirit of autocracy and imperialism that is firmly associated with Moscow’s influence in the region.
By all appearances, the law they opposed was a local initiative to allow the ruling Georgian Dream party to crack down on civil society and win forthcoming elections. But that party’s perceived closeness to Moscow and the similarities to a notorious Russian law against “foreign agents” were a popular rallying cry for Georgians who joined the protests.
“Everybody knows that Russia is not popular here,” said Kornely Kakachia, a professor at Tbilisi State University and the director of the Tbilisi-based Georgian Institute of Politics. “And
