According to the US, former Georgian Prime Minister Ivanishvili is undermining democracy in the country.
On Friday, the United States imposed sanctions on former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzin Ivanishvili, the founder and de facto leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The US says that Ivanishvili is undermining democracy in Georgia for the benefit of Russia. TASR informs about it according to the AFP report.
Ivanishvili currently holds no public office and is only the honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Mass protests
After the October elections, in which Georgian Dream won and the opposition did not recognize this result, opposition protests broke out in the country. Another wave of protests rose in late November, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobachidze announced the suspension of EU accession talks until the end of 2028.
“We strongly condemn the actions taken by the Georgian Dream under Ivanishvili’s leadership, including the continued and violent repression against Georgian citizens, protesters, media persons, human rights activists and opposition figures,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
According to the head of American diplomacy, Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream disrupted the functioning of democratic institutions in Georgia, enabled human rights violations and limited basic freedoms. As he added, they prevented Georgia from its Euro-Atlantic future and left it at the mercy of Russia.
Ukraine also imposed sanctions on Ivanishvili this month. Several countries, including the USA, Britain and Estonia, have previously imposed sanctions on leading Georgian officials. The European Union also considered it, but Slovakia and Hungary were against it. In response to the violent suppression of opposition protests, the European Commission last Friday submitted a proposal to suspend visa privileges for Georgian diplomats and officials.
