US Senators reintroduce act to sanction Georgian officials

US Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen have reintroduced the MEGOBARI Act in the Senate, an act that would mandate further sanctions against Georgian officials and reaffirm support for Georgian media and civil society.

On Tuesday, the US Senate’s website published a press release stating that Risch, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Shaheen, a member of the committee, introduced the act last week.

According to the press release, the Mobilising and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence (MEGOBARI) Act, would ‘require the president to impose sanctions on Georgian Dream officials and their enablers who have engaged in corruption to derail Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, undermined Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, or engaged in other corrupt acts detrimental to stability in Georgia’.

It would also ‘support civil society, which has worked to defend the Georgian people and the Georgian constitution from Georgian Dream government abuses’.

The act would also initiate a ‘complete review’ of US–Georgian relations, including of assistance programmes, and recognise the Georgian people’s support for their country’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

The act was first introduced by Republican Representative Joe Wilson amidst widespread protests against Georgia’s controversial foreign agent law in May 2024, and has since been met with bipartisan support in Congress and Senate. Nonetheless, despite efforts by Wilson and others to move the legislation forward, it has yet to come up for a full vote.

According to the press release, Risch said that the ‘friends of Georgia from around the world have been shocked and dismayed by the government’s descent into authoritarianism and the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protestors’.

‘This bill will send a strong message that the US supports the Georgian people as they struggle for the right to self-determination and will give the US tools to help Georgians restore fairness to their political system’, he said.

Shaheen said that she was pleased to ‘re-introduce this bipartisan, bicameral legislation with Chairman Risch to support the Georgian people in the face of the Georgian Dream government’s constitutional violations and violence against peaceful protesters’.

‘At a time when Russia seeks to undermine democracies across the region, we cannot turn our backs on a key partner striving for a free and democratic future. I look forward to working with Chairman Risch to expeditiously move this bill through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’, said Shaheen.

While work on the MEGOBARI act appears to have been slow since it was first proposed by Wilson in May 2024, the US has imposed financial sanctions on Georgian officials and figures since.

On 27 December 2024, Washington imposed financial sanctions on the billionaire founder of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, for ‘undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation’.

US sanctions Bidzina Ivanishvili

The billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream was sanctioned for undermining Georgia’s democracy for Russia’s benefit.

OC MediaYousef Bardouka

In September of the same year, the US sanctioned riot police chief Zviad (Khareba) Kharazashvili and his deputy, Mileri Lagazauri. In addition to the pair, they also sanctioned the extremist far-right group and TV channel Alt Info’s co-founders, Konstantine Morgoshia and Zurab Makharadze.

The US has also imposed travel bans on tens of Georgian individuals and their family members ‘responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy in Georgia’ were also subject to travel bans by the US.

Georgian Dream’s Mdinaradze claims Baltics and Scandinavia are controlled by the ‘global war party’ and ‘deep state’

The Baltic states and Scandinavia have been some of the most outspoken critics of Georgian Dream in the EU.

OC MediaNate Ostiller