The United States imposed visa restrictions on Georgian political leaders due to undermining democracy

United State On Thursday, he announced visa restrictions against representatives of Georgia’s ruling party, the Georgian Dream Party, members of parliament, law enforcement officials and other citizens on charges of “undermining democracy” in the country.

“We continue to hope that Georgia’s leaders will reconsider their actions and take steps to advance their country’s democratic and Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a press conference. Matthew Miller.

In this sense, he warned that if they do not reverse their actions – such as undermining the freedoms of assembly and association, “violently” attacking peaceful demonstrators, intimidating representatives of civil society or spreading disinformation – “The United States is prepared to take additional measures“.

Miller did not specify who the sanctions were imposed on because visa records are confidential, but he explained that there were “between twenty and thirty.” He added: “I want to emphasize that this is the first batch (of sanctions).”

This comes after the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Babuashvili, on Monday, issued a law on foreign agents, which was questioned by the opposition and international institutions such as the European Union.

On June 3, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Babuashvili signed the controversial law on foreign agents after the country’s president, Salome Zurabishvili, refused to do so.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli KobagidzeHe promised that he would do “everything possible” to avoid a Euromaidan and stop the “Ukrainization” of the country, which in his opinion would only lead to “economic losses” and “destruction,” as happened with Kiev after the pro-European secession. And the national demonstrations in 2013.

We will not allow the presence of a second front in our country. “We must remember what this brought to Ukraine and point out that the government will not allow the same situation to happen here,” he said during a press conference in which he stressed the consequences of the crisis. Euromaidan.

He added: “At that time, the Ukrainian government was elected from the outside, and when that happens, you have to take responsibility. However, we know what happened there. Previously, Ukraine was a country with territorial integrity and was developing economically. Now it is a devastated country, and the economy At its worst, it is a catastrophic state.”

in this meaning, He stressed that Russia is now “buying 20 percent of Ukrainian lands and 10,000 people have died.”. Who is responsible for all this? He explained, according to information collected by the newspaper, that when we talk about Georgia we have to remember what happened and what could happen in Georgia if we follow the same path. Repartition.

“Those who are talking about surrendering to Russia are precisely the ones who gave 20% of Ukraine to their forces,” he noted, before again defending that the foreign agents law that sparked so many protests works to “prevent riots and revolutions.” in the country. “No valid arguments were presented against the law. I offered everyone a public discussion, but everyone avoided it. All this indicates that there are really no arguments. There is no alternative to transparency nor to prevent revolutions and riots (…) The transparency law serves all this» .

(Information from Europe Press)