On June 1, 2023, the website of the news agency “Tbilisi 24” published an article which features an alleged statement of Kelly Degnan, the United States ambassador to Georgia. According to the article, Degnan states that she is shocked to see the monument of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin at Freedom Square in Tbilisi and demands its immediate dismantling. In addition, the article mentions that Degnan urges Georgians to look at Poland, which is being freed from heavy historical memory, because until Georgians distance themselves from Russian-style thinking, it will be difficult for them to integrate into Western civilization. According to the article, Kelly Degnan also calls upon the Minister of Education and urges him to replace Russian language classes with Ukrainian.
Several social media users shared the article on Facebook as well (1,2,3), while the user “Levan Tavdishvilii” posted a screenshot of the article’s title on June 2 and attached the full text of the article as a description.
The statement attributed to the US ambassador, Kelly Degnan, is fabricated. Neither the Georgian media nor the US Embassy in Georgia has disseminated any information about the identical or similar statement made by the ambassador. The US Embassy confirms that the statement is fabricated.
The statement featured in the Tbilisi 24 article was not published by any other media outlet. Not to mention, such a statement cannot be found on the website of the US Embassy or on its Facebook page.
“Myth Detector” contacted the United States Embassy in Georgia, where they confirmed that the ambassador’s statement is indeed fabricated.
In the article, the ambassador’s statement about Alexander Pushkin contains the following phrase: “Haven’t you read his poem: “-Клеверником России “?” The phrase is accompanied by the editor’s note that the poem was written in connection with the Polish uprising of 180-1831. The full text of the poem is given at the end of the article.
The poem is, in fact, related to the Polish uprising of 1830-31 (also known as the “November Uprising”) against the Russian Empire. Pushkin wrote it in response to the speech of the French parliamentarians, who called for help to the Polish rebels. Pushkin calls the uprising a “family affair”, which cannot be judged by European impressions.
It should also be noted that the name of the poem is given incorrectly in the ambassador’s alleged statement (the poem is called Клеветникам России, i.e. “to the Slanderers of Russia”).
About the Sources:
Information agency “Tbilisi 24” LLC was registered in the public register on March 26, 2015, and its owners were Gocha Nachkibia (50%) and Maya Shaishmelashvili (50%). Nachkibia is one of the founders of the “Public Monitoring Center”, whose chairman is one of the leaders of the “Centrists” party, Vladimer Bedukadze. With the changes made in April 2019, Vlademer Bedukadze became the owner of 50% share of “Tbilisi 24” LLC instead of Maya Shaishmelashvili.
Bedukadze, who is the author of the “prison footage,” was planning to participate in the 2016 parliamentary elections with the “Centrists” party, but on August 16, the party’s electoral registration was cancelled. Bedukadze participated in the elections as the number one candidate of the “Communist Party of Georgia – Stalinists”.
“Tbilisi 24” regularly publishes pro-Russian and anti-Western content, including false information. During the coronavirus pandemic, the agency also disseminated disinformation of anti-vaxx content. In April 2023, the agency was involved in the discreditation campaign against Lazare Grigoradis.
The Facebook user Levan Tavdishvili often publishes posts of anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian content. False information disseminated by the user has been fact-checked by “Myth Detector” a number of times in the past.
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