The US has suspended more than $95 million in aid to the Georgian government, citing its ‘anti-democratic actions’ and ‘false statements’ about the West and Washington.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken published a statement describing the Georgian government’s recent actions and statements as ‘incompatible with membership norms in the EU and NATO’.
The statement came hours before the controversial foreign agent law came into force.
From 1 August, organisations that receive more than 20% of their income from abroad are obliged to apply to the Justice House and request registration in the database of foreign agents within 30 days. Organisations that refuse to comply with the law will be subject to large fines, and forcefully registered by the government.
‘On May 23, after anti-democratic actions by the Georgian government, I announced a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation between the United States and Georgia’, wrote Blinken. ‘As a result of that review, the United States is pausing more than $95 million in assistance that directly benefits the Government of Georgia.’
‘Over the 32 years of friendship and partnership between our two countries and our citizens, the people of the United States have provided over $6.2 billion in assistance, contributing to the development and strengthening of Georgia’s economy and democratic institutions’, Blinken said.
The statement noted that the US will continue to support programmes and activities that strengthen democracy, rule of law, independent media, and economic development, and remain ‘committed to the Georgian people and their Euro-Atlantic aspirations’.
Earlier in July, the US Department of Defence announced it was ‘indefinitely’ postponing its annual Noble Partner military training as part of a ‘comprehensive review of the United States–Georgia bilateral relationship’.
They cited the Georgian government’s ‘false accusations against the United States and other Western entities’, and statements by the ruling Georgian Dream party and their allies that the West was both pressuring Georgia to open a second front against Russia to alleviate pressure on Ukraine and had participated in two coup attempts against the ruling party.
On 8 July, the EU suspended €30 million ($32 million) in military aid allocated to Georgia as part of its response to the Georgian government’s passage of the foreign agent law and subsequent crackdown on human rights.
‘Catastrophic consequences’
Georgian officials were quick to dismiss Blinken’s criticism, with the first Vice Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Levan Davitashvili telling journalists on Thursday that Georgia had ‘unequivocally’ not deviated from its Euro-Atlantic trajectory, and suggesting that he was unaware of which funding tranche the $95 million pertained to.
‘I can’t tell you anything specifically about this aid. I don’t know what the talks are about’, said Davitashvili. ‘For us, rapprochement and partnership with the West remains as relevant as it has always been. Therefore, of course, we attach great importance[to it], including to close cooperation with the US.’
Ruling party MP Beka Davituliani suggested that the move was aimed at fostering unrest before the October parliamentary elections.
‘$95 million aimed at helping the Georgian state has now been put on hold, but I am telling you that more will happen before the elections’, said Davituliani. ‘A feeling of tension will be created before the elections’.
Opposition politicians were swift to state that the ruling Georgian Dream party bore responsibility for the ‘catastrophic steps’, in the words of United National Movement MP Gia Japaridze, and warn of further such consequences.
Roman Gotsiridze, the chair of the oppositional Eurooptimists parliamentary group, said that the suspension of aid by countries and organisations including the European Union, Germany, Denmark, and the USA, was ‘already taking the form of the domino principle’.
‘The entire democratic world will stop relations with Georgia from a financial point of view’, warned Gotsiridze. ‘This will have catastrophic consequences, the isolation of the country from international financial organisations will continue, as is the case of the World Bank, the IMF, as well as other financial institutions, on which the entire state and all infrastructure projects stand today.’
‘This will result in unemployment, emptying of the country, rising prices and collapse of the economy’.
Since the government passed the foreign agent law on 28 May after months of intense protests and criticism, government officials have increasingly frequently claimed that a ‘Global War Party’ is seeking to destabilise Georgia and pull it into war with Russia.
Officials claim that the secret cabal controls the West and is fostering war around the world, and appear to connect the supposed group with US actions.
[Read more: Ivanishvili touts conspiracy theories at massive pro-government rally in Tbilisi]
While neither the ruling Georgian Dream nor their satellite groups have stated who is in the Global War Party, they have both stated that they do not mean either the US or Europe, but also claimed that it has great influence over both.
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