Banner: Video version of campaign ads promoting comparisons between Russia-bombed Ukrainian and “peaceful” Georgian cities. (Source: ქართული ოცნება/Georgian Dream via Facebook)

Exactly one month prior to pivotal parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 26, 2024, the ruling Georgian Dream party has intensified its efforts to persuade the public that western countries, Ukraine, and the Georgian opposition are attempting to drag Georgia into war with Russia. These efforts build and innovate upon a long-running government fearmongering campaign.

On the morning of September 26, Georgian citizens were confronted with provocative street banners displaying bombed-out Ukrainian cities on one side and “peaceful” Georgian cities on the other. Similar images spread quickly across Facebook, the country’s most popular social media platform. Later that day, the Georgian Dream’s official Facebook page released a video compilation juxtaposing war-torn Ukraine and peaceful Georgia.

This marks a significant escalation in Georgian Dream’s two-year propaganda effort to scare Georgians into believing that support from the West will inevitably lead to war in Georgia, which echoes anti-Ukraine narratives also pushed by the Kremlin. While previous efforts mostly relied on statements and social media posts in a written form, this is the first time the campaign has utilized highly emotional visual imagery, installing them on the streets ad pushing them online to spread fear among Georgians and fueling the Kremlin narrative that Ukraine is to blame for Russia’s February 2022 invasion of their country.

Prior to the current narrative escalation in April 2024, former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili introduced a conspiracy theory suggesting that there exists shadowy “global war party” that secretly exerts influence over NATO and the EU. According to Georgian Dream, this group has been trying to use Georgia and Ukraine as “cannon fodder” but failed in Georgia because the Georgian government has prevented the opening of a “second front.”

After the banners appeared in public, Georgian Facebook users began widely sharing photographs of them. These were later picked up by local media outlets. One banner depicted the remains of the Mariupol theater, where hundreds of civilians were sheltering before it was bombed by Russia, juxtaposed with an image of a theater in a “peaceful” Georgian city. Another banner contrasted a destroyed Ukrainian church, damaged by Russian attacks, with an intact church in Georgia. Under the photos of the Ukrainian cities is text that declares, “No to war!” with an image of numbers representing the opposition parties crossed out on an electoral ballot. In contrast, the part with Georgian cities displays the text “choose peace!” is accompanied by the electoral number associated with Georgian Dream. In Georgia, the Central Election Commission assigns ballot numbers to political parties participating in elections. Under new electoral reforms, most Georgian citizens will vote electronically in the upcoming elections, where they will need to color their preferred party on a ballot.

Shortly after images of the street banners began circulating online, Georgian Dream’s official Facebook page released a video featuring similar comparisons between Russian-bombed Ukrainian cities and peaceful Georgian cities. The video was accompanied by the caption: “No to War! Choose Peace! Color [ballot number] 41!” At the time of writing, the video had amassed over three million views, 23,000 reactions, and more than 2,700 comments. It has also been cross-posted to 18 Facebook pages in an attempt to reach broader audiences, including via the pages of regional party chapters and members of Georgian Dream.

Georgian Dream election campaign banners were quickly amplified on Russian Telegram channels, especially those within the community of Russian military blogger channels, sometimes referred to as Z channels. The Telegram channel “Операция Z: Военкоры Русской Весны” (“Operation Z: War correspondents of the Russian Spring”), which has over 1.6 million subscribers, shared images of the banners with the caption, “Georgian Dream has advocated for dialogue with Russia since the beginning of the ‘special military operation.’” The channel also claimed that the West had “entered into conflict with Tbilisi” over the foreign agents law and the “ban on LGBT propaganda,” referring to the anti-LGBTQ+ law recently passed in Georgia. Other Z channels further reshared this post.

Eto Buziashvili and Sopo Gelava, “Georgian Dream promotes images of bombed Ukrainian cities as an electoral fearmongering tactic,” Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), October 4, 2024, https://dfrlab.org/2024/10/04/georgian-dream-campaign-posters.