The Political Council of Georgian Dream responds to Anthony Blinken’s statement.

“In the name of US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, it was announced the possible imposition of visa restrictions against the representatives of the Georgian government, which is a continuation of the anti-Georgian rhetoric that we have been hearing since 2012 and which was especially intensified in 2021-2022. The policy of blackmail and threats against Georgia does not correspond not only to the spirit of strategic partnership, but also to the general spirit of partnership that should be established between the two sovereign states.

The statement made on behalf of Anthony Blinken and the blackmail with visa restrictions are nothing but a crude attempt to limit Georgia’s independence and sovereignty, which is especially cynical in light of the fact that Georgia is celebrating its national independence day in two days.

This is an unprecedented event in the history of world politics, when an official representative of one country threatens a lawmaker of another country with sanctions simply because he voted for a transparency law. This event will be written in gray letters in the history of world politics.

Let’s not say anything about the fact that until now no one has been able to present any argument against the law “On transparency of foreign influence”. Not to mention that similar laws operate in a much stricter form in the US, in France, and in many other countries, against which the US has not imposed any sanctions. Also, such a bill is actively discussed in the European Union. Moreover, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the law initiated in the EU will be the leading line of her election campaign, because foreign influences and interference are the biggest challenges for Europe today.

It should be noted here that the spread of sanctions to family members, including minor children, is a form of sanction that not only Europe has strictly refused since the 40s of the last century, but it has not even been used in the USSR since the 60s. In the civilized world, it has been widely recognized for decades that the so-called rejection of the principle of subjective impeachment, i.e. spreading the sanction to family members, is a fascist-Bolshevik phenomenon. And now, this form of sanction is used by the official representative of the US, which is astonishing.

However, after the relevant forces used the example of the terrorist attack on the Prime Minister of Slovakia in the conversation with the Prime Minister of Georgia through the person of one of the European Commissioners, and thus blackmailed the highest officials of the Georgian government with the loss of their lives, the talk about the imposition of visa restrictions is no longer unexpected or surprising.

Let us also remind you that a few months ago a similar visa restriction was imposed on Georgian judges on behalf of Blinken, without any justification and facts, and then they cynically declared that they were not going to provide facts and we should investigate the issue ourselves. Despite the visa restrictions, the judicial system continues to function properly, and this decision did not affect the independence of the Georgian judiciary. Moreover, since then, the Strasbourg court has repeatedly confirmed that the Georgian court makes fair decisions and serves justice.

We also remind you that today the top officials of the two EU candidate countries - Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina - have sanctions imposed by the US, however, both countries continue the process of joining the EU and there are no delays in this regard.

In conclusion, we would like to clearly state once again that we are not going to trade the sovereignty and security of our country. No amount of blackmail can force us to take a step against our country. In such a situation, sanctions are only counterproductive and harm the sanctioner himself. Therefore, we call on everyone to act pragmatically and take effective steps to improve relations, which is equally in the interests of both the Georgian and American people”, - reads the statement.