The US on Friday, the 27th of December, imposed sanctions on Georgian billionaire, founder of the country’s leading party “Georgia Dream”, former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is seen as the de facto leader of the country, saying he is undermining democracy and allowing Russia to benefit, reports Reuters.
Ivanishvili, who made billions in Russia’s metals and telecoms industries in the 1990s, has been spearheading Georgia’s distancing from the West and has accused foreign intelligence services of trying to lead it to war with Russia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was sanctioning Ivanishvili for “undermining Georgia’s democratic and Euro-Atlantic future in favour of the Russian Federation”.
Blinken said Ivanishvili had pursued “actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the US or abroad” for Russia.
The sanctions will freeze all US assets belonging to Ivanishvili.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze called the move “blackmail” and said it was Ivanishvili’s “reward” for keeping Georgia out of the war. He repeated claims by Ivanishvili’s allies that the billionaire has been under de facto US sanctions for years, which Washington denies.
Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party claims to support a pro-Western Georgia while maintaining ties with Russia. However, its decision to freeze EU accession talks until 2028 has sparked daily protests since November, which have led to the detention of more than 400 people, including opposition politicians.
The Georgian news agency Interpress quoted Giorgi Vashadze, leader of the opposition United National Movement, as saying that he welcomed the sanctions imposed on Ivanishvili.
“The people’s struggle has results,” Vashadze said. “The whole world sees the protest of the Georgian people, and this is a serious success of this protest.”
On the 18th of December, the US imposed sanctions on a number of Georgian Interior Ministry officials whom it accused of involvement in the crackdown on protesters.
BNN has already reported that the Baltic countries have also imposed sanctions on several Georgian officials.
The political unrest started after the disputed October elections, in which opposition parties and President Salome Zurabishvili rejected the results, claiming that the results were fraudulent.
Zurabishvili has announced that she will not resign when her term ends, setting the scene for a showdown when Mikheil Kavelashvili, elected by Georgian Dream, is due to be inaugurated on Sunday.