The Speaker of the Georgian Parliament claimed the opposition had engaged in a “paradox” by holding a public protest in Tbilisi to “demand less sovereignty”.

Shalva Papuashvili contrasted his claim with historical events of protests being held on Rustaveli Avenue in the early 1990s with demands for the country’s independence from the USSR.

“The adoption of the law was a lengthy process and everyone would have the opportunity to present their arguments.

30 years ago people gathered on Rustaveli Avenue [in Tbilisi] to demand sovereignty and it is a paradox that these days the opposition and its NGOs are gathering people to demand less sovereignty.

It is a paradox to bring people to the point of saying that they should have as little information as possible, that a lot of information seems to them to be bad and harmful.

In terms of international responses, we have observed that the propaganda of the so-called ‘Russian law’ has failed. None of the responses contain the terminology which, unfortunately, was established by one [foreign] diplomat last year”, - added the Speaker of legislature.