Ruling party head: US Foreign Agents Registration Act has “exposed true colours” of UNM opposition

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday claimed the latest disclosures on the United States Department of Justice’s website had “directly revealed” the United National Movement opposition party in Georgia was “paying money for [achieving a] sanctioning [of] the country”, and called the development “simply a disaster”.

Published last week, the disclosed information revealed the lobbying company Akerman had been involved in drawing up a draft resolution for the European Parliament that was critical of the Georgian Government around the topic of the imprisonment of the former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

It also showed the firm had worked to prepare articles about the former President’s health condition for international media, and lobbied US senators to pursue sanctions against Georgia over his alleged ill-treatment in detention.

In his response, Kobakhidze alleged the publication of the information had “once again” confirmed the UNM was a “party of treason”.

This shows once again that the United National Movement is both a party of war and treason. They are direct traitors and agents - otherwise, [the actions are] simply unthinkable”, he said in reference to claims by the ruling party of UNM being involved in efforts to ensure an opening of a “second front” of the ongoing war in Ukraine in Georgia.

“You know that the ‘Russian law’ is in effect in America. This is the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and thank you to this law for exposing the true colours of the United National Movement once again”, Kobakhidze said in reference to the proposed Georgian bill on transparency of foreign influence that was retracted following public protests that drew parallels with a law in Russia.