American analyst and Columbia University professor Lincoln Mitchell, who advised Georgian Dream in 2012, stated that Bidzina Ivanishvili no longer has anyone to tell her when she has foolish ideas. Mitchell made these comments during a hearing organized by the Helsinki Commission in the US Congress, which focused on the proliferation of Russian-style Foreign Agent laws in several countries, including Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Hungary.
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"The question I pose regarding the passing of this law is why and why right now. Many assume that it originates from Moscow, where someone in the Kremlin picks up the phone and calls Bidzina Ivanishvili, the foremost leader of Georgia, saying, “We want this to be done.” I think it's an easy explanation to attribute it to Russia's desire, which is certainly possible, but we cannot be certain," Mitchell stated. As he said, whether Ivanishvili received the directive for the law from Russia or not is essentially inconsequential, as Russia controls the ultimate outcome.
"The capriciousness of Georgian leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, who holds no formal role in the Georgian government, is often underestimated here in the United States and in the West. This is what Bidzina does: an idea comes to his head, he presents it, and is surrounded by people whose main task in life is to stay close to him, to be near the power and money that flows from him in Georgia. So, no one says, “Hey, that's a pretty silly idea,” even when it actually is. Thus, it works non-stop," Mitchell remarked.
As he said, the law on so-called Foreign Agents is good for Russia but bad for Georgia, its democratic trajectory, and its western aspirations.
Lincoln Mitchell also addressed the subject of US sanctions, stating that sanctioning influential individuals and their family members can be influential. “He [Ivanishvili] perceives himself as already being sanctioned. That is one of the reasons perhaps behind this bill. I think sanctions matter. I think they will have an impact. I don't think people sanctioned are happy about this. It's good when you have a situation where you incentivize the government to do the right things. For example, conducting a free fair election rather than if they try to steal, sanctions would be one of these tools”.
The Helsinki Commission notes that over the past few years, Russian-style laws on Foreign Agents have proliferated in various countries. These laws, while justified under the pretext of ensuring transparency of foreign funding and influence, are actually being used to control and restrict civil society. According to the Commission, the governments of these countries spread falsehoods that these laws are similar to transparency or lobbying laws in the United States and other democracies, which were created to provide greater transparency to covert foreign influence and to combat propaganda and harmful foreign influence. The law on so-called Foreign Agents, according to the Helsinki Commission, is an authoritarian tool for repressing civil society and was approved by the parliamentary majority of Georgian Dream on May 28.
