The Georgian special services are interested in the fake campaign about the oppression of Russians.

An information campaign is being conducted against Georgia to create the impression of threats to Russian tourists in the country, stated the State Security Service.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the attack by a resident of Georgia, Georgy Chigladze, on a Russian-speaking tourist caused a stir on social media. According to one of the participants in the incident, the investigation confirmed that the girls did not splash water on the wedding guests, did not insult them, and did not damage the equipment. By August 3, the Russian citizen who was hit by Chigladze left Georgia with her friends. Back in July, AI-generated images featuring Mikhail Saakashvili and Georgy Chigladze circulated online, noted the fact-checking portal "Myth Detector".

The State Security Service of Georgia is conducting an investigation under the article on sabotage in connection with the discrediting information campaign against the country. The campaign is being conducted from abroad and harms the state interests of Georgia, including economic ones, the agency stated.

The authors of the disinformation, which is spread on social media by bot accounts, are trying to create a false impression that there are threats and an "unfavorable environment" for tourists from Russia in Georgia.

“On several fake accounts registered on the social platform X, disinformation was spread that Georgian citizens leave tourists from the Russian Federation alone in the forest or intentionally contaminate the food they order in Georgian restaurants,” the SGB statement said, in particular.

The agency added that similar fake information was also “coordinately spread” by one of the foreign media “with a multi-million audience.” The name of the resource is not mentioned in the SGB statement.

The article on sabotage or creating threats to the state interests of Georgia, under which the investigation is being conducted (Article 318 of the Criminal Code of Georgia), provides for up to four years of imprisonment. The goal of the investigation is to identify the organizers and participants of the campaign, the sources of its financing, and the mechanisms of information dissemination, as noted in the SGB publication on its official Facebook page.*

After the incident with Russian-speaking tourists in Telavi, residents of Russia actively spread a call on social media to refuse trips to Georgia. At the same time, the lawyer of the tourists, Lali Apciauri, like they themselves, "distanced themselves from the wording that the conflict arose because of the language," the publication Paper Kartuli noted on July 21. "According to Apciauri, the incident was not motivated by language or nationality, and the women have no claims in this regard against the investigation," the publication stated. However, in their initial statements about the incident and the published videos, they claimed that Chigladze's aggression towards them was indeed provoked by the Russian language.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that on July 11 in Tbilisi, participants of a memorial event for fighters killed in combat actions in Ukraine held a march near the parliament building. A conflict occurred between the march participants and a group of tourists. Georgian media stated that the tourists were from Russia. The incident caused a stir on social media. Commentators debated its causes. Some users believed that the tourists merely responded to the aggression of the demonstrators, while others claimed that it was their behavior that caused the incident.