Bidzina Ivanishvili is a close ally of Putin and is involved in destabilizing Georgia, reads the recently published US Security Strategy entitled “Strengthening America & Countering Global Threats”. The document is signed by 13 Congressmen and addresses the need to impose sanctions on the leaders of Russia’s disinformation campaign.

“Sanctions on Russia should be extended to the leaders of its disinformation campaigns. Additionally, current sanctions have not sufficiently addressed Putin’s foreign cronies who undermine the sovereignty of former-Soviet countries…

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in Georgia, is a close ally of Putin and involved in destabilizing Georgia on Russia’s behalf”.

The authors of the document recommend to sanction Russian propaganda chiefs and those undermining U.S. partners from the former Soviet Union and to direct the Department of State to produce a report on Kremlin-connected oligarchs who finance Russian military aggression.

“Georgia is a democratic U.S. ally that has sent troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, as Alexis Mrachek of The Heritage Foundation notes, at the time of Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, Georgia’s troop numbers were second to the United States’ in Iraq, and Georgia suffered the most per capita loss in Afghanistan of any nation. Georgia is the largest nonNATO troop contributor to the NATO Resolute Support Mission. In 2017, the United States launched a threeyear bilateral Georgia Defense Readiness Program. The Task Force believes that Congress should continue to work to strengthen Georgia’s readiness and defense capabilities by approving arms sales to Georgia in support of its efforts against Russian aggression, offering military assistance, and improving Georgia’s interoperability with NATO. The Georgia Support Act, which has passed the House but not the Senate, mandates a report on how the United States can work with Georgia to counter Russian disinformation and ensure Georgian security needs. It also requires the president to impose sanctions against foreign persons responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses in the Russian-occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali”, - reads the report.