Experts: Russia’s hacking campaign seeks to thwart Georgia’s westward path

Tbilisi, Georgia — Just ahead of Georgia’s parliamentary elections on Saturday, a Bloomberg investigation has revealed a yearslong Russian hacking campaign targeting Georgia’s government, major companies and critical infrastructure. 

Analysts see the large-scale cyberattack, which gave Moscow access to sensitive intelligence and the ability to disrupt essential systems, as part of Russia’s efforts to undermine Georgia’s pro-Western aspirations. 

“One of the most shocking revelations was that the [Georgian] Ministry of Foreign Affairs was hacked 114 times, with information gathered from embassies and even high-level officials,” Giorgi Iashvili, a Tbilisi-based cybersecurity expert, told Voice of America’s Georgian service. 

“It shows just how deeply the Russian cyber campaigns have penetrated our systems. Not only public institutions were affected, but also the private sector — telecom operators, key energy infrastructure and service providers.”  

Between 2017 and 2020, Bloomberg reported, Russia’s GRU and FSB intelligence agencies successfully infiltrated key Georgian ministries as well as the country’s energy sector and telecommunications networks. They accessed Georgia’s central bank, election commission and oil terminals, exposing the country’s vulnerabilities.  

“What the Russians are now trying to do here is to identify the weaknesses for potential sabotage, to identify where and how they can intervene in Georgia’s domestic politics, more clearly and more aggressively if the need arises, and thirdly, build a network of agents of influence,” said former Georgian Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili.  

The Georgian government, widely seen as tilting toward Moscow, dismisses those concerns. 

In an interview with VOA, Archil Talakvadze, a member of parliament from the ruling Georgian Dream party, said: “In the field of cybersecurity, we now have stronger systems in place. The State Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is better prepared to address this threat.” 

Others, however, are not convinced. 

Giga Bokeria, a former secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council and now the chairman of the opposition Federalists party, argues that Russian actions go beyond hacking and espionage efforts in Georgia.  

“We have the government which is allowing, embracing and even financing Russian infiltration into our political life, economic sphere and the security services because they are natural allies. And we have overwhelming evidence of that,” he told VOA.  

Last month, U.S. officials told VOA that Washington has readied sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire Georgian Dream founder and former prime minister, accusing him of acting under Russia’s direction. Ivanishvili is widely seen as the power broker behind Georgia’s government. 

Bokeria pointed to the shielding of an Ivanishvili associate, Otar Partskhaladze, from U.S. sanctions as evidence of the government’s alignment with Russia. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Partskhaladze, a former Georgian chief prosecutor, for allegedly advancing Russian interests and assisting Russia’s intelligence services.  

“This is a man who is very close associate of our de facto ruler, oligarch [Bidzina Ivanishvili],” Bokeria said. “We know it from his own confessions. When he was sanctioned, the whole Georgian government and the state apparatus behaved embarrassingly, to accommodate him, to clean out his bank accounts, to give him time [before] the sanctions could create any discomfort to him.” 

Utiashvili noted that during the last 12 years, not a single Russian spy has been arrested in Georgia.  

“There’s no way one can believe that Russian intelligence does not work here. So no, there are [these] multitude of examples that show that Russians enjoy complete safety,” he said.  

Safety, however, is not guaranteed for Georgia’s own security officers. In 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was assassinated in Berlin, in broad daylight.  

Khangoshvili, an ethnic Chechen, was a former Georgian security operative who joined the Chechen militants fighting Russia in the first Chechen war, which made him a target of Russian intelligence. While he later helped Georgia’s security services identify Islamists in the country, Georgian authorities failed to protect Khangoshvili, prompting him to leave the country. 

“The government has not yet answered the question, why did it leave its own citizen defenseless in face of the Russians?” Utiashvili said.  

The Georgian government remained silent after Khangoshvili’s death and never raised the issue publicly. In a recent prisoner swap, Russian President Vladimir Putin went to great lengths to secure the release of Khangoshvili’s killer, Vadim Krasikov.   

“We know how important it was for Vladimir Putin to release Khangoshvili’s murderer,” Utiashvili said. “He pretty much let most of the high-level political prisoners go in exchange for the killer. That gives you an idea of how high level this murder was planned and how important it was for the Russian regime.” 

Referring to the Georgian authorities, Utiashvili added: “When you force such a citizen to go, that means that you don’t want to intervene. You only don’t want it to happen on your territory. But, you’re basically signing a death warrant.” 

Kakhaber Kemoklidze, a former Georgian security service official under the Georgian Dream government, blames Georgia’s political leadership for failing to counter Russian influence, which, he said, has reached into the government’s high ranks. 

“They are really implementing Russian intelligence services goals,” he told VOA.   

The influx of Russian emigres into Georgia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has only heightened espionage risks.  

“There might be a big-scale infiltration within the different segments of the Georgian society or businesses,” Kemoklidze said. 

Western countries, including the United States, have spent millions to help Georgia defend itself from Russian hybrid tactics, including espionage and hacking, and to secure its information space. In 2020, NATO, funded by the United Kingdom, launched a project aimed at countering Russian hybrid threats in Georgia.  

However, as New Lines magazine reported in May, the Georgian government misused this initiative to spread anti-Western messages and target critics on social media. 

The oversight team for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said this abuse led to the removal of fake accounts linked to the Georgian government.  

“The Western governments, the Americans, the Brits, the Europeans, have been helping the Georgian government to become resilient in the fight against the enemy propaganda and any disinformation,” Utiashvili said. 

“However, the units that were set up in the Georgian government with the help of donors’ money were used not to fight the Russian propaganda, but to enhance it, because, again, Georgian Dream and Russia share their propaganda assets in Georgia.” 

From shielding Russian allies to failing to protect its own operatives and using Western funds to spread Russian narratives, Georgia’s government is helping Moscow fulfill its strategic objectives, analysts say. 

“Russian intelligence officers on a senior level would be very much happy seeing what the current Georgian government is doing,” former Georgian security service official Kemoklidze said.  

According to Bokeria of the opposition Federalists party, Russia’s goal is to ensure Georgia and other neighbors remain under Kremlin control.  

“A successful statehood on its borders for Russia means that it is becoming a part of the free world, regardless of NATO or EU enlargement,” he said. “And that is unacceptable for them.”  
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