The Human Experiment

Op-Ed

The closer the presidential elections are getting to the finish line, the more the Kremlin increases its propaganda attacks on Georgia. First, it decided to use the former Security Head who has long fled Georgia, Igor Giorgadze, the latter accusing Tbilisi and its strategic partner the USA of the production of biological weapons. His statement was followed by a special briefing of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which was completely dedicated to discussions about the Tbilisi-based Lugar Laboratory and the alleged secret experiments conducted there. Moreover, quite recently the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Giorgi Karasin went straight to threats and demanded the restoration of diplomatic relations with Russia, saying that otherwise an economic embargo and other measures could follow. The Kremlin has not explained what the “other measures” could be, but Tbilisi thinks it could even mean a military intervention, which could also be connected with the upcoming presidential elections.

Since the Kremlin got into the “Novichok” and “Skripal poisoning” scandal, Russia has been raising the issue of US-funded biological laboratories in the former Soviet countries and their secret experiments, among these the Lugar Laboratory of Tbilisi. Being a “third level” laboratory, it conducts experiments on humans. As evidence for this Georgian-American conspiracy, the Russians published “secret letters” between the local Ministry of Health and the US Embassy. Although the data did not reveal anything that would indicate any sort of violation of international norms, the fact that the diplomatic correspondence of the two countries was published in foreign media and that it has been used as an argument by the Kremlin to aim its accusations on Georgia, and start executing a strategy of action, is outrageous.

The Chairman of the Atlantic Council of Georgia, Vasil Sikharulidze, thinks that the aim of Russia’s latest disinformation campaign is to move the spotlight: “The actions taken by Russia on the territories of other states, like poisoning people, can’t be called anything other than terrorism. Perhaps this is what Russia wants to overshadow. The propaganda based on a the delusional rave about the Lugar Laboratory is part of this and, on the one hand, it is aimed at overshadowing Russia’s crime, and on the other, to trigger doubt in at least a minority of international society,” Sikharulidze told media platform Netgazeti.

But what does all of this have to do with the presidential elections? The thing is that so far, the elections for Salome Zourabishvili, the presidential candidate supported by Georgian Dream, aren’t as good as they were expected to be. Her candidacy could be regarded as an international “project” planned between Moscow and Paris and, of course, Ivanishvili, who we shouldn’t forget is still a citizen of France. We shouldn’t forget also the fact that before Zurabishvili became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Saakashvili’s times, she was the Ambassador of France to Georgia and was in close relationships with the Kremlin working on the issues of Pankisi Gorge as the representative of an OSCE country. The situation is almost the same now, the difference being only in the fact that Pankisi has been replaced by the occupied territories of Georgia. The Kremlin would no doubt prefer to have its former partner working on these issues. It is exactly this project that could be deteriorated by the will of Georgian voters and media cannon Rustavi 2. Propagandistic attacks from the Russian media are all for the support of said “project.”

Discrediting the Lugar Laboratory could be connected to the upcoming elections says Nodar Kharshiladze, the founder of Georgian Strategic Analysis Center (GSAC):

“Russians always had an opinion about the Lugar Laboratory and periodically bring this theme to the fore, but if we look at the chronology, this is usually done before the elections in order to threaten us. At this stage, it fits completely into the portfolio of the current governing power, suggesting that if they won’t be in government anymore, Russia could attack us (on the grounds of the Lugar Laboratory). Hence, this issue could be used by Russia as a means to support the political power that is more acceptable for them,” he claims.

By Zaza Jgarkava

The Lugar Lab, Tbilisi. Image source: timesofisrael.com