But is Russophobia really the driving force behind the longest protest in the history of modern Georgian statehood? — we unpack this in the new episode of The Era of Blurred Landmarks.
Anton Chechin, Anastasia Zinovkina, Artyom Gribul, and Denis Kulanin are Russian citizens who ended up behind bars following the protest events in Georgia. Three of them were sentenced to terms of up to nine years, while Kulanin received two years. Their lawyers are preparing an appeal this month.
Zinovkina and Gribul were detained on December 17, 2024, in Tbilisi. They were charged with the possession and purchase of 16 grams of alpha-PVP with intent to sell. Both claim that the drugs were planted on them and that there were neither video recordings nor independent witnesses during their arrest. The couple participated in the protests on Rustaveli Avenue, distributing water and tea to protesters. Their case is among six similar ones, all involving arrests that took place last December amid the standoff in Tbilisi.
Anastasia Zinovkina was an active participant in anti-Putin protests in Russia: after moving to Moscow from St. Petersburg, she took part in a number of actions, including solo pickets outside the Gosduma (State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament) and hanging banners on Red Square, and was detained several times for her participation in protests. This is precisely why many viewed the activist’s harsh sentence as a nod from Georgian Dream toward the Kremlin. The prison conditions in which Zinovkina is reportedly being held may amount to torture. In late October, an incident occurred that drew the attention of human rights defenders.
Here is what civic activist Alena Bachiya writes:
“According to Zinovkina, she suffers from spinal issues and regularly receives only painkillers, without any actual treatment. She is not provided with an orthopedic mattress and pillow, despite earlier promises. On the day of the incident, a doctor gave her an injection in the morning, but by 12:30 p.m., her back seized up so severely that she could not stand. For eight hours, duty officers responded to her cries and pleas for help by saying they could do nothing. Zinovkina is in solitary confinement, meaning she could not rely on anyone else for assistance.
In the evening, the situation worsened: at 9:00 p.m., a nurse came in, threw her a diaper, and left, refusing to help. An attempt to stand up ended in a fall to the floor, where Zinovkina lay until midnight.”
This week in Tbilisi, Georgia’s largest human rights organizations issued a joint statement declaring that Chechin, Zinovkina, and Gribul, along with dozens of other participants in the pro-European protests in Georgia, have fallen victim to the politicized and biased justice system of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. The human rights defenders stated that any impartial and objective court would have acquitted these individuals and released them in the courtroom.
Female opposition politicians—the very ones who take to Rustaveli Avenue every evening and whom the authorities accuse of Russophobia—have also spoken out in support of Zinovkina.
So, what does this mean? Perhaps Georgian Dream should change its narrative. After all, people are protesting not against Russia or Russians, but against the Russian model of authoritarianism, which the Kremlin successfully exports beyond its borders.