Parliament official says pensions, salaries of Gov’t agencies not funded from abroad after pause in US financial support

Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Rules and Procedural Issues Committee, on Monday said neither pensions nor salaries of any Government agency or social programme in the country were funded from abroad, after the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently announced suspension of more than $95 million in aid to the Georgian Government.

Blinken’s announcement followed the adoption of a controversial domestic law on transparency of foreign influence by the Georgian Parliament late May.

In his remarks, Kadagishvili noted “everything” was funded from the state budget, including the Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi, built with funds allocated by the US Government.

“I would like to emphasise that this $95 million is not found in the state budget - no pensions, salaries of soldiers, police, state institutions and social programmes are funded from abroad”, he said.  

If any research project at the Lugar Laboratory stops, that is certainly bad, but no one can tell me any logical connection between the transparency law and the Lugar Laboratory. One thing we know very well is that Russia has constantly demanded the closure of the Lugar Laboratory. I do not know why the United States is following Russia's narrative”, he continued.

The official further claimed the “pressure” of the paused support was “aimed at one simple goal of somehow influencing Georgian citizens” ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26.