The Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, Sergey Lavrov, responded to the initiation of the law on so-called Foreign Agents by the Georgian ruling party and the ongoing protests against it. Like Georgian Dream leaders and the country's prime minister, Lavrov said the law is only about annual declarations of money received.
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"The current demonstrations in Georgia have turned Salome Zourabichvili into a fighter for freedom of speech, although the law is very lenient. In the United States of America itself, in France, in Poland, and in many other countries of the European Union, there are laws with fines and criminal liability if you receive money, do not disclose it, and misuse it. Georgians have it easy: if you receive more than 20% of the organization's funding from abroad, just declare it," Lavrov said during an interview with the propaganda media.
Before Sergey Lavrov, Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev responded to the Russian law.
Despite the protests of the people and the appeals of the United States of America and the European Union, Georgian Dream passed the draft law restricting independent media and civil society with 83 votes in the first reading.
A similar bill was supported by the ruling party in the first reading in March of last year, but people's protests forced its rejection. Party leaders vowed to withdraw the bill "unconditionally, without any reservations," but a year later, in early April, it was reintroduced. The text of the draft law remained the same - only the term "agent of foreign influence" was replaced by "organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power."
President Salome Zourabichvili states that the Georgian Dream bill "is an exact copy of Putin's law, which was passed in 2012," and if it is passed in all three readings, she will veto it.
"This is a law against the activities of non-governmental organizations. This is a law against media activities. And this is a law against all international organizations of our partner countries - European countries, Great Britain, or the United States, who have been supporting the independence of Georgia for more than 30 years, building our state institutions, and developing our economy," said Salome Zourabichvili.
EU leaders warn the Georgian authorities that the law will endanger the country's European integration.
