WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, today released the following statement after Georgia’s ruling party adopted a Russian-style foreign agent law, prompting public protests:
“The Georgian people who have taken to the streets to protest this Kremlin-inspired legislation see clearly that this move taken by the Georgian Parliament would not only attack Georgia’s independent media and civil society organizations, it would represent a huge step backward for Georgian democracy and irreparably damage the country’s Euro-Atlantic future,” said the senators. “If this legislation were to pass, the damaging consequences would lay squarely on the ruling party, who has refused to uphold its mandate to advance the economic and security aspirations Georgia’s citizens have with the West. This law will only push Georgia further away from the transatlantic community it says it wants to join. We encourage the government to reconsider advancing this troubling legislation to avoid another setback in their democratic trajectory and work to build a better future for the Georgian people. We call on the Georgian authorities to allow for its citizens to peacefully protest – a basic right that should be upheld in any democracy.”
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