As guest speaker at the Marietta-based Georgia Tea Party on Thursday, Oleg Ivutin of Smyrna warned of growing similarities between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union where he grew up.

The U.S. is on a “fast track” to becoming an authoritarian government like the U.S.S.R., said Ivutin, a businessman who challenged Joe Dendy as chairman of the Cobb GOP in March.

Under communist rule, the Russian police spied on people, collecting files to use against them. Neighbors were encouraged to report on neighbors. Ivutin sees similarities between what happened in Russia and what is happening here. The KGB never had it so easy, he said.