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... Investigators targeted local staff in Tbilisi of the Atlantic Council, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., that is known for promoting democratic values and institutions, particularly in Eastern Europe.

The investigations unit of Georgia's Finance Ministry searched the homes of Sopo Gelava and Eto Buziashvili, both staff members with the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Lab, known also as DFRLab. The two have authored reports on how Russia is carrying out overt and covert influence operations to sway the upcoming elections in favor of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

"The Atlantic Council is deeply concerned about this development and its impact on our staff's work shortly before Georgian elections," Graham Brookie, the Atlantic Council's vice president for technology programs and strategy and senior director of the DFRLab, said in a statement.

"Our Georgian colleagues, Sopo Gelava and Eto Buziashvili, are engaged in independent, non-partisan work aimed at defending and strengthening democracy from those who would undermine it in online spaces, including research related to foreign influence efforts, the targeting of marginalized communities, and other online harms." ...