Soros: Georgia’s Regime Viable and Successful

In an interview with RFE/RL, which was published on April 26, billionaire philanthropist George Soros spoke about his contribution to the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia, saying that Georgia was proving itself “a viable and successful regime.”

“Georgia, the state, has really changed in its character. Corruption is much less prevalent than it was, and Georgia has been able to withstand very, very strong pressure from Russia because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not like to see an independent Georgia and has done everything to undermine the [government]. At one point, they cut off the gas. They blew up the electricity, and Georgia managed to survive. So it’s an unfortunately tense situation, and it would be certainly in the interests of Georgia and of Russia to have better relations,” Soros said.

He said that unlike Ukraine, Russia failed to exert its influence on Georgia. Soros also noted that his role in the so-called “colored revolutions” has been misunderstood and greatly exaggerated.

“My role has been misunderstood and greatly exaggerated, actually by President Putin and others [including former Georgian President Eduard] Shevardnadze, who prefer to blame me for organizing the [Rose] Revolution, rather than accepting the fact that the people overturned the regime in Georgia,” Soros said.

“I was somewhat more personally involved in Georgia because I was working with Shevardnadze and others on an anticorruption campaign that he and [President Mikheil] Saakashvili, who was then minister of justice, supported, along with [Zurab] Zhvania, who was head of the parliament. And then, very regrettably, Shevardnadze could not deliver on his promises or his commitments because the main source of corruption in Georgia was the Ministry of the Interior – the police,” Soros said.

He said that afterwards Mikheil Saakashvili and Zurab Zhvania left the government and set up their own parties.

“I did not support them as a political party but we gave them, for instance, the Open Society Prize, which recognized their stand. So that was my role,” Soros said.

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