Parliament Speaker calls “defeated US Administration using final days to attack Georgian people, Gov’t” “regrettable”

Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Saturday said it was “regrettable” the “defeated” United States Administration was “using its final days to attack the Georgian people and Government” amid the US Treasury Department’s announcement of sanctions on Thursday on Georgia’s officials from the Interior Ministry.

“This is a serious stain on Georgian-American relations, especially when it comes to our law enforcement and security system”, Papuashvili noted, adding it was “unfortunate that after the defeat in the [2024 US presidential] elections, the Administration, to which the American people denied further legitimacy, is undermining relations with the Georgian people in the name of the American people”.

In his comments for the press, the official claimed the visa restrictions and the question of sanctions were used as the “instrument of coercion by different political groups internally and externally”, adding despite these threats, “Georgia [...] is still moving forward and, of course, such decisions cannot harm our people”, while the “only thing it harms is the reputation of those countries and governments that make such decisions”.

Papuashvili credited Vakhtang Gomelauri, the country’s Interior Minister, who was among the sanctioned, and other law enforcement and security officials for ensuring a “safe environment in Georgia not just for Georgians but also for foreign citizens, diplomats and everyone who is our guest”.

The Parliament Speaker also highlighted the recent Country Reports on Terrorism published by the US State Department that mentioned “Georgia continued its robust counterterrorism efforts in 2023 and remained a strong US security partner”.