Members of the Helsinki Commission have called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to take "immediate and decisive" measures regarding the situation in Georgia. The letter, signed by Congressmen Joe Wilson, Steve Cohen, Richard Hudson, and Mark Wiss, suggests imposing financial sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream, and his close associates.
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In a letter sent to Blinken on July 26, the congressmen expressed their support for the introduction of a visa restriction policy against individuals who undermine Georgian democracy and human rights.
“We think it is a strong step towards holding an increasingly authoritarian and antidemocratic government in Tbilisi accountable. However, the pace and severity of events on the ground suggest to us that more needs to be done urgently to protect the Georgian population
We believe the time is right to begin the process of leveling individual financial sanctions against key nodes of corruption and malign influence in Georgia- specifically, Bidzina Ivanishvili and his inner circle.
It must be made clear that the principal agents of corruption and malign influence in or in league with anti-Western elements in Georgia will not be free to prey on the Georgian people and attack its democracy at will,” the letter reads.
As the congressmen write, they have information that a significant source of "dark money" supporting the Georgian Dream's detrimental patronage system originates from "fraudulent" call centers scattered around the world.
“These call centers appear to be nodes of cooperation between corrupt agents in Georgia as well as their other kleptocratic counterparts in Russia, and it is likely these same call centers have been variously mobilized to harass and intimidate civil society members, democracy activists, and political opposition and their families in Georgia in recent months.
The illegal profits they generate are also a key input in various corrupt networks in Georgia, Russia, and beyond, and help maintain the troubling system of political economy that facilitated the recent antidemocratic and anti-western turn in Georgia.
It is also likely that these same networks serve as a source of income that feeds Russian corrupt networks and enables systems of sanctions evasion and avoidance.
As such, we believe it is urgently imperative for the State Department, in cooperation with U.S. and friendly foreign law enforcement agencies, to take swift, immediate, and systematic action against these call centre networks and other such efforts internationally to destroy or disrupt their operations,” the congressmen wrote. They note that these measures will complement the “Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia's Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act”.
The congressmen state that the MEGOBARI Act will strengthen democratic practices, human rights, and the rule of law in Georgia. Additionally, it will reaffirm the United States' commitment to supporting Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration and countering the influence of authoritarian regimes, particularly Russia.
