Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of pushing the country towards dependence on Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced sanctions targeting “the part of the Georgian government that is surrendering Georgia to Putin.”
“Ukraine has imposed sanctions on (Bidzina) Ivanishvili and his accomplices – 19 individuals,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
Zelenskyy stressed that “we must not lose anyone in this region – neither Georgia, nor Moldova, nor Ukraine.”
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also announced sanctions against Georgian officials earlier this week.
Zelenskyy’s announcement came after Georgian police raided the offices of an opposition party on Wednesday and arrested its leader, in an apparent attempt to quell a wave of mass protests triggered by the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the EU.
The Coalition for Change opposition party said on Wednesday that police raided its offices and detained its leader, Nika Gvaramia.
Georgian media reported that police also raided the offices of other opposition groups and NGOs.
During the past six nights, Georgian riot police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the capital of Tbilisi’s central boulevard.
More than 300 protesters have been detained since Thursday and over 100 have been treated for injuries.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Georgia on 14 December – with outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili describing the ruling Georgian Dream party as ‘illegitimate.’
The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June after parliament passed a law requiring organisations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”
This piece of legislation was critiqued by opposition as similar to a Russian law used to discredit organisations critical of the government.
