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The goal of the ruling Georgian Dream is not the transparency of finances of media and public organizations. Every month, each of us submits detailed information about income and expenses, in the prescribed form, to three state institutions - the revenue service, statistics, and audit supervision. We also submit a summary financial report to the tax service every year. Many organizations also publish these reports on their websites.

So, why is the government adopting Russian law?

With this law, Georgian Dream declares the USA and the European Union as potential enemies of Georgia. The law stipulates that grants given to Georgia by these countries' governments or international organizations can be used for subversive activities against our country.

The existence of our media organizations - Mtis Ambebi, Georgian News, and previously the Kakheti Information Center - almost entirely depends on the support of international organizations.

Without their help, we simply could not exist under the conditions of the previous or current government.

We could not investigate and reveal to the authorities of the then ruling National Movement that as a result of a special operation in Lopota valley, killed our own citizens, whom President Saakashvili and the same propagandist media considered to be saboteurs from a foreign country. We could not tell or show you how they traded bodies with the families of the murdered youths; First, how they created an illegal armed group, and then how they secretly sent the remaining members of the group out of the country.

We couldn't tell you about the "living dead" case, where a person was brutally tortured by the Telavi police into confessing that he had killed a man. Based on this testimony obtained under torture, four people were arrested.

If we had not been completely independent of the government with the help of international organizations, we could not have exposed high-ranking officials of the previous government for smuggling, kidnapping and punishing people, corruption, and many other crimes. It was due to my critical activities that a hand grenade exploded in my house twice, and I was shot a third time. My family members are still traumatized by these crimes. Neither the previous nor the current authorities have investigated the three different cases of attempted murder of the journalist.

If it were not for the help of international organizations, we would not have been able to maintain full editorial independence under the government of Georgian Dream. The main promise of Ivanishvili's party was media freedom, and in 2015, we became one of the main targets of Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili and his clan. After several unsuccessful attempts, they tried to bribe us to refuse to publish the journalistic investigation. The investigation revealed that the Kakheti current governor, Irakli Shiolashvili, after cleaning the city, forced employees of the cleaning service to work for free on his family's plots without even providing them with food. The investigation also uncovered the death of one worker and the subsequent cover-up of the circumstances of his death. After the journalistic investigation was published, the governor accused us of corruption. As a result of the dispute initiated by us, the Supreme Court determined after four years that the governor had defamed us and ordered him to publicly deny the information.

Mtis Ambebi revealed how Georgian Dream handed over 104 712 hectares of forest in Racha and Kvemo Svaneti to the partner of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, Davit Khidasheli, for half a century (Occupation of Racha Forests). We worked for a whole year, visiting more than 100 villages in Racha door to door. We needed many court cases to obtain documents proving that this government decision was illegal. In the end, the government was forced to stop giving forests to Putin's oligarch partner.

Growing corruption is one of the main reasons why the government is attempting to pass the Russian law.

There is no agency in the country that investigates cases of large-scale corruption involving current or former officials. The only ones who expose such corruption are public organizations and us, independent media, separate from the government.

How many times have I become the target of the current Prime Minister, the Parliament Speaker and other high-ranking officials of Georgian Dream after critically covering the Shovi tragedy and exposing the government's criminal indifference? Many times. The Parliament Speaker publicly called on our donors not to fund Mtis Ambebi. Papuashvili also demanded an explanation from the EU representative in Georgia as to why the investigative film prepared by us on the Shovi tragedy was among the finalists of the European Union prize in journalism.

In addition to our whistle-blowing activities, we help many people through the advocacy campaigns led by Mtis Ambebi. For example, the dialysis program in the highland regions such as Svaneti, Racha, Kazbegi, Javakheti, Khulo, Tianeti, and other places became available for the first time only after our advocacy. Thousands of children in dozens of villages were allowed to receive pre-school education only after our advocacy. The internetization of more than one hundred villages in Pshav-Khevsureti-Gudamakari was also our initiative and project of our partners. Caring for the homeless, the elderly, solitary people and those left in border villages is also part of our work.

Neither the media nor non-governmental organizations will be banned by Russian law at first, but we will not let them label us as agents of a foreign country! Subsequently, according to Russian law, the government will first fine us, then impose fees, and finally shut us down! According to the Russian plan of Dream, this is how free media will disappear in this country. There will be no one left to highlight the problems of the oppressed and stand by you, to prevent them from stealing more. But Georgia will never become Russia.

We will win this battle together with our readers and viewers.