Anti-government protests have continued in Georgia for nearly 90 days following disputed parliamentary elections last October.

Demonstrators, led by former President Salome Zourabichvili, demand new elections as the means to peacefully resolve Georgia’s political crisis.

Zourabichvili accuses the ruling Georgian Dream party’s leadership of working in the Kremlin’s interests and warns against Georgia falling into “Russia’s hands.”

On Feb. 17, Laura Thornton, senior director for global democracy programs at the McCain Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, published an article supporting the opposition’s call for new elections and pro-European aspirations.

In response, Shalva Papuashvili, speaker of the Georgian Parliament accused Thornton of advocating for overthrowing the government and claimed most Georgians believed the Maidan protests in Kyiv led to destruction of Ukraine.

That is misleading.

Statistical evidence contradicts the claim that Georgian people view Ukraine’s 2013-14 Maidan protests as a symbol of destruction of Ukraine. Maidan ended in peace and led to two consecutive democratic presidential elections. The Russian aggression has been destroying Ukraine, not the Maidan protests.

Maidan uprising

Ukrainians protested their pro-Russian government and its swing from the EU course toward Moscow.

Neither Ukraine’s military nor political elite plotted to ouster then- President Viktor Yanukovych.

Yanukovych responded to popular protests with violence, then fled to Russia, where he currently resides.

After the Maidan uprising, Ukraine held two democratic presidential elections and had been making progressive changes, despite Russia’s destabilizing actions in 2014 followed by Moscow’s escalating the war in 2022.

Like in Ukraine, Russia occupies roughly 20% of Georgian territory following Moscow’s invasion in 2008.

Georgian’s own experience of Russian aggression led to high levels of support for Ukraine’s Maidan protests on both a governmental and popular level.

Georgian statistics

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Georgians overwhelmingly rallied behind Ukraine.

A poll conducted by the Tbilisi-based Analysis and Consulting Team in March 2022, showed that 87% of Georgians viewed Russia’s war against Ukraine as “our war too.”

Another 72% of respondents believed that if Russia emerged victorious, Georgia would be next for further military action.

Georgian Dream did leverage fears of a subsequent Russian invasion on the campaign trail. They promoted closer ties with Moscow as a path toward peace, and the opposition’s orientation toward Brussels as the path to war.

Yet opinion polls have consistently shown that over 80% of Georgians support European integration.

Still, on Nov. 28, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze suspended Georgia’s EU accession process until the end of 2028, igniting the ongoing protests.

The same day, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Georgia’s Oct. 26, parliamentary poll “for being neither free nor fair,” calling for new elections under international supervision.

Thornton and the opposition’s views line up with that of the European Parliament, citing a number of electoral irregularities which were documented by international and local observers.

They have not advocated for a violent transfer of power.

On the other hand, the government in Georgia stands accused of deploying violence against demonstrators, including torture and repression, which the government denies.

But an independent United Nations human rights experts said the scale of the allegations and “the gravity of the harm reportedly inflicted” by government security forces necessitate “independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigations in accordance with international standards.”Conclusion: Georgians broadly supported Ukraine’s Maidan protests and have shown solidarity with them following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Maidan was not a coup and did not cause Ukraine’s destruction, rather it ended in peace and led to democratic elections.