US Senate committee approves bill countering Russian actions in Georgia

The Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate has approved a bill featuring measures to counter Russian influence in Europe and Eurasia, including in Georgia.

The bill says that the Russian government continues to ignore the terms of the August 2008 ceasefire agreement relating to Georgia, which requires the withdrawal of Russian Federation troops, free access by humanitarian groups to the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and monitoring of the conflict areas by the European Union Monitoring Mission.

According to the bill, the US President should call on the government of Russia to withdraw all of its forces from the territories of Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova.

Under the bill, the US should allocate $250 million in 2018-2019 "to counter the influence of the Russian Federation in Europe and Eurasia, and for other purposes”.

Now that the bill is already approved by the committee, it will be passed to a Senate plenary session for voting. The date of this has not been specified yet.

Once the bill is approved and comes into force, the US Secretary of State will have 90 days to set up a working group to manage the fund tasked to counter Russian actions in Europe and Eurasia.