Senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Stephen Blank said on Friday that Georgia should expect Russia’s interference in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 31.

“We should expect interference in the elections because the structures, whose mission is to conduct information warfare and interference, are already established and operated. Georgia should therefore focus on disinformation, fake news and criminal activity involving candidates, parties and movements, getting Russian subsidies, including form Russian businesses,” Blank told the Accent.

When asked about Russia’s possible task in this election, Blank said:

“Russia utilizes information and political channels already influenced by it and play upon religious, ethnic, and other issues as well as disillusionment with the West's failure to bring Georgia closer to the EU and NATO. And its tack is to exploit and widen decisions in the Georgian electorate and thus reduce pro-Western parties' strength and grounds for operating.”

Elections are scheduled to be held in Georgia on 31 October 2020 to elect the 150 members of Parliament.