Georgia’s ruling party released new campaign material featuring cemetery footage of buried Ukrainian soldiers and bombed residential buildings, escalating its controversial practice of exploiting Russian war crimes for domestic political gain.
Georgian Dream’s central campaign message warns that supporting pro-European opposition would bring Ukrainian-style war to Georgia. The practice demonstrates how Russia’s invasion has become a tool in Georgian domestic politics, as the government exploits the conflict to shape voter behavior around Western integration versus accommodation with Moscow.
The Facebook video juxtaposes haunting black-and-white footage from Russian-bombed Ukrainian cities with colorful Georgian infrastructure. The campaign includes military cemeteries filled with Ukrainian defenders, destroyed residential towers, and grieving parents standing in rubble where their children died.
The Ukrainian footage (left) is captioned “no to war!”, while the Georgian side (right) reads “choose peace!”
Political campaign exploits Ukrainian suffering
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the materials as “yet another unfriendly act by the ruling party ‘Georgian Dream’ that for its own political PR purposes keeps using videos depicting the horrific consequences of the Russian full-scale aggression against Ukraine.”
“Such cynical actions demonstrate disrespect towards the Ukrainian people and the victims of the Russian aggression,” the statement continued, expressing “just indignation among Ukrainian society.”
This follows the party’s previous use of bombed Ukrainian theaters and churches in October 2024 election banners, which featured destroyed sites like Mariupol’s drama theater where hundreds of civilians died in targeted Russian airstrikes.
“Crawling before Moscow”
The ministry delivered particularly harsh criticism of Georgia’s broader trajectory under billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia and has steered the country away from Western integration.
“It is regrettable to observe how the Georgian authorities crawl before Moscow and disregard the principles of dignity and independence, which [are] historically inherent to the Georgian nation,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry stated.
The statement suggested Georgian Dream’s political technologists should “be honest with their own people and post a more truthful image on their pages: the Russian tricolor on the right and closed doors of the EU and NATO on the left.”
Pattern of Russian influence
Since 2022, Georgian Dream has refused to sanction Russia, passed Moscow-style “foreign agents” legislation, and suspended EU integration talks until 2028 despite winning disputed elections in October 2024.
The party’s “fear of war” strategy exploits trauma from Russia’s 2008 invasion, which left 20% of Georgia under occupation.
International observers called Georgia’s October elections fraudulent, with statistical analysis suggesting the party stole 15% of votes cast. Mass protests have continued for over eight months, while the EU has effectively frozen Georgia’s membership path.
Despite government hostility, Ukraine emphasized its “consistent and unwavering support to the friendly Georgian people in their aspiration to build up an independent, democratic, and European state.”