Shalva Papuashvili Again Attacks the French Ambassador With Disinformation

“The Embassy of France doesn’t consider us as humans. We are not fools to believe that the French Embassy finances radical parties to draw tourist routes. I suspect this is indirect funding of protests,”stated Papuashvili.

He accused the French ambassador of a lack of transparency.

“If there's nothing to hide, then why are they hiding it, and why is there resistance?! They stated that they held a competition. I'll remind all ambassadors that they are guests in this country.

“Going into a country, throwing money around, and feeling zero responsibility for what happens with that money is unacceptable. Unfortunately, some countries and organizations have this experience, where years later it turns out they've funded extremists and politicians.

This is why these funds must be transparent. However, as we can see, the French ambassador doesn’t want transparency. The Embassy stated that this was a competition, but that’s not an answer. We can assume that there was no competition, and this is the harmful practice the United States administration is talking about today, where grants were given through deals to exert some political influence.

The individuals whom the French Embassy gave money to are politicians. Irakli Khvadagiani was a Member of Parliament, part of the United National Movement's top ten. Giorgi Kandelaki was the ideologue of the United National Movement when it was in power. He is a co-creator of the system of torture and racketeering. The French Ambassador assigned him a salary. The statement that this is for establishing tourist routes is a bit insulting," Papuashvili said.

On April 15, the French Embassy announced on social media that the "Soviet Past Research Laboratory" won its 2025 competition to support civil society projects in Georgia. The organization will create new tourist routes in Gori and Kutaisi, exploring Georgia's Soviet past and highlighting key memorial sites related to resistance against the Soviet totalitarian regime and the democratic experience before the occupation. The Soviet Past Research Laboratory (SovLab) is a leading non-governmental organization that develops memory politics in Georgia and combats the weaponization of memory by Russian disinformation.

According to information published on the French Embassy's Facebook page, the Georgian Pen Center and the Tsovati Community Information and Cultural Center also won the same competition.

The Pen Center's project will create a discussion platform on cultural and public issues of common interest. By giving a voice to various representatives of civil society, both in Tbilisi and the regions, this initiative aims to foster dialogue, debate, and critical thinking through a weekly podcast.

The Tsovati Tush project, on the other hand, aims to preserve Tsova-Tush culture and heritage, which faces the threat of loss.

Papuashvili's anti-Western and disinformation statement was published on the Georgian Public Broadcaster's website without including the information previously released by the French Embassy regarding the grant competition.

On April 16, Ivanishvili's parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Grants, which prohibited the distribution of grants to non-governmental organizations and media without government permission. The Georgian Dream party fast-tracked the package of amendments, adopting it in two days—April 15-16—through three readings at a plenary session. This marks the fourth legislative package developed by the Georgian Dream against independent and critical civil society organizations and media.