Solidarity for Peace is an organization established in 2021 (415030558), which has close ties with Russia. Initially, Solidarity for Peace was a public organization, but on December 15, 2023, it registered as a political party. The first chairperson of the political union was Merab Chikashvili, who, before founding Solidarity for Peace, was a member of the political party, the Alliance of Patriots, and ran for the 2020 parliamentary elections as a majoritarian candidate from the party in the Gldani district of Tbilisi. Chikashvili was also a host on TV Obiektivi, which is affiliated with the Alliance of Patriots.
Solidarity for Peace states that the political party promotes closer ties between Russia and Georgia, and its foreign policy strategy is based on the idea of military neutrality.
At the congress held on June 15, 2024, Mikheil Zhgenti was elected as the new chairperson of the party. It was Zhgenti who, on August 4, 2024, the 241st anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Georgievsk, read out the party’s address to the governments of Georgia and Russia calling for the signing of a “new Georgievsk Treaty.”
The general secretary of the party is Temur Pipia, who previously held the position of chairperson of the Unified Communist Party of Georgia. At an international anti-fascist conference held as part of the XIV Congress of the Communist Party of Belarus on April 21-22, 2023, Pipia, along with other communist party representatives, was awarded a jubilee medal by Gennady Zyuganov, deputy of the State Duma of Russia and chairperson of the Communist Party’s Central Committee.
Temur Maisuradze also holds a political position within the party; he initially served as a member of the political council and later became executive secretary. Maisuradze was a member of the Parliament of Georgia of the eights Convocation (2012-2016) from the electoral bloc “Bidzina Ivanishvili – Georgian Dream.”
Current members of the political council include Tamar Kiknadze, Mamuka Kartozia, Nata Arghvliani, Giorgi Iremadze, and Giorgi Jabishvili. Before joining Solidarity for Peace, Tamar Kiknadze was a member of the political council of the parliamentary party European Socialists. She is also linked to the Primakov Georgian-Russian Public Center, which was founded in 2013 by the Gorchakov Foundation, established by order of the President of Russia, and the Georgian International Relations Institute.
Another member of the party’s political council is Giorgi Iremadze, founder of Patriot TV, who owns the Facebook group “Georgia and Russia/Грузия и Россия,” where he informs Georgian youth about opportunities to receive free education in Russian universities. In this same group, Iremadze congratulated group members on the restoration of visa-free travel between Russia and Georgia.
One of the leaders and the international secretary of the political union is Mamuka Pipia, a businessman living in Russia. Together with other members of Solidarity for Peace, he traveled on the first flight from Moscow to Tbilisi after the resumption of flights between Russia and Georgia. On June 15, 2024, Sputnik-Georgia released a video message from Pipia in Russian in which he urged President Putin to lift the visa regime. Pipia often attends events organized by Russian political elite, representing Solidarity for Peace at these events. On July 22, 2024, he attended the international event of the “Friends of Russia Club,” which was opened by a speech from Sergey Lavrov.
The leaders of Solidarity for Peace maintain close ties with the former Prosecutor General of Georgia, Otar Partskhaladze, who is under U.S. sanctions. Otar Partskhaladze’s son, Andria Partskhaladze, was an active member of the organization before it was registered as a political party. In an investigative film released by “Tavisuplebis Monitori” (Monitor of Freedom) on March 26, 2022, Chairperson of the Party Merab Chikashvili confirmed that Andria Partskhaladze collaborated with them at Chikashvili’s personal request. On May 27, 2022, Andria Partskhaladze founded the non-governmental organization Conservative Union. The chairperson of this organization, Archil Bubuteishvili, joined Solidarity for Peace upon its establishment and served on the committee for diplomatic issues and foreign policy. In December 2022, Bubuteishvili, along with other members of the organization, participated in a meeting with representatives of the State Duma of Russia in Moscow.
Holding meetings with various organizations and officials in Russia has become one of the main activities of Solidarity for Peace. Following the restoration of direct flights between Russia and Georgia, RIA Novosti reported that the Georgian delegation, led by Solidarity for Peace, had been engaged in intensive dialogue with Russian authorities since late 2022 to restore air travel between the two countries. According to Dimitri Lortkipanidze, the head of the Primakov Foundation, another initiative proposed by this platform is the creation of a Georgian-Russian university, which will be funded by the Russian Federation.
In January 2022, the organization participated in a round table organized by the Union of Communist Parties (Союз коммунистических партий – КПСС – КПРФ) on the topic “Opportunities for Positive Development of Relations between Russia and Georgia.” The participants of the round table on the Russian side were State Duma deputies Kazbek Taysaev and Artem Turov, and on the Georgian side, in addition to Solidarity for Peace, representatives of the Conservative Movement, the European Socialists party, Eri Media and the Union of Human Rights Defenders.
Solidarity for Peace is also actively involved in organizing working meetings with deputies from the Russian Duma. On December 14, 2022, the first meeting of the Georgian-Russian Forum was held in Moscow, organized by the Duma’s Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Relations with Compatriots in collaboration with the public movement Solidarity for Peace. The forum meetings subsequently became periodic. In the format of the Georgian-Russian Forum, the Russian side is represented by Leonid Kalashnikov, chairman of the Duma’s Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Relations with Compatriots, and his first deputy, Kazbek Taysaev. Both individuals are on the sanctions lists of many countries (1,2) and have repeatedly violated Georgia’s law on occupied territories (1,2).
