The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) launched a “sabotage” investigation into what it alleges is a “discrediting information campaign” on social media platforms involving fake “bot accounts” aimed at creating a “false perception” that Russian tourists face an “unfavorable environment” in Georgia.
Announcing the launch of the probe at an August 5 briefing, Emzar Gagnidze, director of the SSSG’s Anti-Corruption Agency, said the campaign is “controlled from a foreign country and supported from Georgia,” involves foreign-registered bot accounts “across various social platforms,” and is aimed at “harming Georgia’s economic interests.”
According to him, several such fake accounts on X posted disinformation on various issues, “including claims that Georgian citizens allegedly left tourists from the Russian Federation alone in the forest or deliberately contaminated food ordered by them in Georgian restaurants.”
Gagnidze said such “false information” was later spread “in a coordinated manner, over a specific time interval” by an online media outlet registered in a foreign country, which he did not name but said has an audience of “many millions.”
The investigation is underway under Article 318 of Georgia’s Criminal Code on sabotage, which covers “obstructing the normal functioning of, or damaging/destroying, a state enterprise or other important facilities to create a threat to Georgia’s state interests,” and carries a prison sentence of up to four years.
Gagnidze said that measures are taken to determine the “organizers and participants of the disinformation campaign, its possible sources of funding, the mechanisms used to spread the information, and its goals.” He added that “any action directed by external or internal forces aimed at undermining Georgia’s national interests, destabilizing state institutions, violating the constitutional order, or damaging national security will be met with an appropriate legal response.”
The briefing comes as Russian citizens remain the largest group of international visitors to Georgia. According to the National Statistics Office (Geostat), visitors from Russia accounted for 25.1% (328,900) of all international visitors in the second quarter of 2026, while Russian citizens also recorded the highest number of visits during the period, at 380,100.
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