U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

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SUPPORTING GEORGIA’S SOVEREIGNTY AND 

DEMOCRACY 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND 

COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JUNE 5, 2024 

Printed for the use of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 

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Available via www.csce.gov 


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COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION 

U.S. HOUSE U.S SENATE 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina Chairman 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee Ranking Member 

ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama 

EMANUEL CLEAVER II, Missouri 

RUBEN GALLEGO, Arizona 

RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina 

MICHEAL LAWLER, New York 

VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana 

MARC A. VEASEY, Texas 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland CoChairman 

ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi Ranking 

Member 

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

TIM SCOTT, South Carolina 

JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire 

TINA SMITH, Minnesota 

THOM TILLIS, North Carolina 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

EXECUTIVE BRANCH 

Department of State - Erin Barclay 

Department of Defense - Celeste Wallander 

Department of Commerce - Don Graves 


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C O N T E N T S 

Page 

COMMISSIONERS 

Hon. Joe Wilson, Chairman, from South Carolina ............................................... 1 

Hon. Steve Cohen, Ranking Member, from Tennessee ......................................... 3 

Hon. Richard Blumenthal, from Connecticut ........................................................ 12 

Hon. Victoria Spartz, from Indiana ........................................................................ 15 

WITNESSES 

Ivane Chkhikvadze, EU Integration Program Manager, Civil Society Foundation, and Georgia Country Consultant, European Endowment for Democracy ........................................................................................................................ 5 

Natalie Sabanadze, Senior Fellow, Chatham House, and former Georgian 

ambassador to the EU ......................................................................................... 7 

William Courtney, [ret.], Adjunct Senior Fellow, RAND Corporation, and 

former U.S. Ambassador to Georgia ................................................................... 9 


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(1) 

SUPPORTING GEORGIA’S SOVEREIGNTY AND 

DEMOCRACY 

COMMISSION ON SECURITY & COOPERATION 

IN EUROPE, 

U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION, 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

Tuesday, June 5, 2024. 

The hearing was held from 2:16 p.m. to 3:20 p.m., Room 210, 

Cannon House Office Building, Representative Joe Wilson [R-SC], 

Chairman, Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, 

presiding. 

Committee Members Present: Representative Joe Wilson [RSC], Chairman; Representative Steve Cohen [D-TN], Ranking 

Member; Senator Richard Blumenthal [D-CT]; Representative Victoria Spartz [R-IN]. 

Witnesses: Ivane Chkhikvadze, EU Integration Program Manager, Civil Society Foundation, and Georgia Country Consultant, 

European Endowment for Democracy; Natalie Sabanadze, Senior 

Fellow, Chatham House, and former Georgian ambassador to the 

EU; Ambassador [ret.] William Courtney, Adjunct Senior Fellow, 

RAND Corporation, and former U.S. Ambassador to Georgia. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF JOE WILSON, CHAIRMAN, U.S. 

HOUSE, FROM SOUTH CAROLINA 

Chairman WILSON: [Sounds gavel.] Ladies and gentlemen, good 

afternoon. I am Congressman Joe Wilson, the chairman of the Helsinki Commission. I am very grateful to be here today. On behalf 

of the United States Helsinki Commission, I want to welcome everyone here and thank you for joining us today for this very important hearing. 

Thank goodness that we have really talented staff who know how 

to move microphones. [LAUGHTER.] 

This hearing comes at a critical moment for the nation of Georgia. Since it regained its independence in 1991 the United States 

and Georgia have come to a close, inseparable relationship based 

on the shared vision of democratic principles and a strong and free 

Euro-Atlantic. 

Our two countries have worked closely together to develop deep 

and far-reaching reforms in Georgia, spurring investment and economic development, and we have worked side by side for the common cause of regional and European peace. Our soldiers have 

fought together in Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond, and the United 

States has contributed over six billion in direct assistance and 


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much more to provide opportunities and open horizons for the 

Georgian people. 

The United States, along with our colleagues in Europe, have 

long, strong, and steadfast friends through the people of Georgia. 

Unfortunately, this powerful bond has recently come under a withering attack by the ruling Georgian Dream Party led by the billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. 

The Georgian Dream government has openly renounced their 

long-standing democratic and Euro-Atlantic choice of the Georgian 

people, ramming a Putin-esque style foreign agent law through 

parliament despite months of mass protests, as you see from the 

posters behind us, and damning public opinion. 

This law is openly intended to stigmatize and undermine the nation’s independent civil society and media and suppress avenues for 

alternative thought or dissent. Worse, this foreign agent law appears to be only the tip of the iceberg of the government’s antidemocratic turn. 

Additional policies and legislation are gutting the independent 

remaining vestiges of the Central Election Commission, finalizing 

the capture of the beleaguered judiciary and civil society actors and 

activists as well as their families as being actively threatened, intimidated, and even assaulted by government-linked thugs. 

Opposition offices have been raided, destroyed, and with graffiti 

vandalized. Georgian Dream is actively embracing war criminal 

Putin and other authoritarians despite Putin occupying 20 percent 

of its internationally recognized territory and it illegally seized that 

territory in a longer brutal history of colonial Soviet subjugation 

and aggression. 

The ruling party has found common cause with war criminal 

Putin, which has been all too happy to cosign Georgia Dream’s conspiracy-riddled anti-Western turn. Russian intelligence assets operate in Georgia with impunity. Georgia’s security services have been 

turned on the population while Georgian sovereignty has been bargained away to the Russian empire for the cheap baubles of power 

and material gain. 

Georgian Dream is also expanding its ties with the Chinese Communist Party rapidly and handing over key infrastructure to the 

People’s Liberation Army military-linked companies as another aspect of his dictatorial turn. The United States must not allow this 

attack on Georgian democracy and its Euro-Atlantic future to go 

unanswered. That is why I welcomed the State Department’s recent announcement of a visa ban policy against any individual undermining Georgian democracy. 

We must do more to keep our promises to the people of Georgia. 

I am grateful to introduce the MEGOBARI Act along with my colleagues and friends of the nation of Georgia Ranking Member 

Steve Cohen, Congressman Richard Hudson of North Carolina, and 

Congressman Marc Veasey of Texas. Bipartisan. 

This legislation will provide the State Department with additional tools and guidance for promulgating visa restrictions and financial sanctions against those who undermine Georgian democracy and engage in repressive measures against the Georgian people. 


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It will also produce reporting to highlight the extent of Russian 

and Chinese malign influence in Georgia and the way those efforts 

have become closely intertwined with key individuals in Georgia. It 

also will require the administration to move quickly to establish a 

pre-election task force in Georgia to work urgently to help protect 

the democratic environment ahead of the October 2024 elections. 

Additionally, the spirit of the MEGOBARI bill highlights a more 

robust and positive framework for U.S.-Georgia bilateral relations. 

That is why the legislation calls for expanded trade ties, streamlined people-to-people contacts, and robust economic and security 

assistance packages when the Georgian government returns to the 

long-standing democratic and Euro-Atlantic choice of its people. 

It is critical to show the Georgian Dream that we are serious 

about our support for the Georgian population with whom we seek 

to continue a positive and collaborative future. I am pleased to say 

that the MEGOBARI Act has strong bipartisan support and we are 

grateful to welcome endorsements from Freedom House, the Georgian Association of the USA who are here today in dynamic leadership. We appreciate you being here. 

The Central and East European coalition Razom, which has been 

so effective in promoting freedom and democracy for the people of 

Ukraine, the North Caucasus Nations Committee, and others. I 

look forward to working with Commissioner Jeanne Shaheen to 

combine our efforts for the tremendous people of Georgia. 

Today we will hear from some of the leading experts in Georgia 

about this dynamic and worrying situation. I am pleased to welcome Ivane Chkhikvadze who is here in the middle —thank you— 

who is the European Union integration program manager at the 

Civil Society Foundation in Tbilisi and a Georgia country consultant for the European Endowment for Democracy; Ambassador Natalie Sabanadze, who is a senior fellow at Chatham House, the 

Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, the former Georgian ambassador to the European Union, and a former senior official at the OSCE; and Ambassador William Courtney, an adjunct 

fellow at the RAND Corporation and a former U.S. ambassador to 

Georgia. 

We are grateful for your presence and your testimony today, and 

before we hear from our witnesses I would like to give the floor to 

my very honored colleague Congressman Steve Cohen, the ranking 

member from Tennessee. 

STATEMENT OF STEVE COHEN, RANKING MEMBER, U.S. 

HOUSE, FROM TENNESSEE 

Representative COHEN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all 

the folks in attendance here. This is a very important issue for the 

United States and for the world. Our witnesses will enlighten us 

on what has been occurring in Georgia and what the impact is on 

the world and freedom. 

I happened to have been in Georgia in 2012, I believe it was 

when the Georgia Dream came to power, and at the time Mr. 

Ivanishvili gave the impression that he was going to be a reformer 

and it was, indeed, a dream and a good dream. Mr. Saakashvili 

was running a pretty draconian prison system and had quite a bit 


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of opposition because of the lack of liberties that he was seeing for 

people in prison and the use of the prison system to punish folks. 

Mr. Ivanishvili has held power now for 12 years, and while he 

is not the prime minister or the president he is the man. He runs 

the show. I do not like to necessarily judge people by the way I see 

them and the first time I see them, but the first time I saw him 

I thought, this is no dream. He looked like so many corporate 

businesspeople who want to run everything and autocrat types and 

powerful folks who are looking for a government as a way to expand their desires and interests and fulfill their destiny as they see 

it, and I think he has proved that to be true. That first glimpse, 

I think, was appropriate. 

Mr. Saakashvili now I think resides in jail, has been there for 

quite a while, and is treated pretty awfully. I am the OSCE special 

representative on political prisoners. I am concerned about Mr. 

Saakashvili, who is a political prisoner. He has, I think, been in 

very ill health and his life may be in danger. 

This law that was just passed it was said that they wanted to 

make sure that there were not foreign agents dealing in Georgia. 

What it was, I think, it is not so much foreign agents as they labeled civil groups and NGOs but transparency and freedoms which 

the NGOs encourage and espouse. 

They are not really interested in that. They are interested in government control. A country that tries to bully its NGOs is a country 

that is not a democracy. It is not Western values. Georgia, obviously, we know wants to join the European Union. That would be 

good for them economically. They would like to—I guess they would 

like to be in NATO. I do not know. 

Ms. SABANADZE: Yes. 

Representative COHEN: Okay, good. Yes. [LAUGHTER.] 

They are not—their being so close to Russia, and they should 

have learned from South Ossetia Russia is not their friend. Of 

course, they still have a reverence for Stalin. I went up to—what 

is the name of the—it starts with a G, maybe. 

Chairman WILSON: Gori. 

Representative COHEN: Gori went to the Stalin Museum. It is 

kind of interesting to see that and he has kind of come back and 

always looked upon as a Georgian that had done good. Well, he did 

good. He did bad and that is how he did good. Kind of a mix. They 

seem to have somewhat of a reverence for him. 

I would like to—I am just looking forward to hearing from the 

witnesses where is Saakashvili and how is he—what is his conditions if you know and, Ambassador, you probably have knowledge 

on that and appreciate your being here to edify us. 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you very much, Ranking Member 

Steve Cohen of Tennessee. 

As we begin today, I would like to ask for unanimous consent. 

We have a letter submitted for the record from the leader of the 

Georgian Labor Party Shalva Natelashvili, and so without objection, this shall be entered into the record. 

We will now begin with each witness and my goal is that each 

have five minutes and then we will proceed, and we will have 

members of Congress and Senate and the House coming back and 


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forth. To give everybody time, we could limit it to five minutes 

each, and then equally, we are limited to five minutes each, too. 

With this in mind, I would like to begin with Ivane Chkhikvadze 

and so thank you very much for your being here today. 

TESTIMONY OF IVANE CHKHIKVADZE, EU INTEGRATION PROGRAM MANAGER, CIVIL SOCIETY FOUNDATION, AND GEORGIA COUNTRY CONSULTANT, EUROPEAN ENDOWMENT FOR 

DEMOCRACY 

Mr. CHKHIKVADZE: Thank you, Chairman Wilson and honorary 

members of the Commission. Allow me please to express my genuine appreciation for holding this very timely and important hearing and also giving me the opportunity to address the distinguished 

guests and participants of this meeting. 

I would like to focus your attention on the latest developments 

in Georgia regarding democratic backsliding, which is taking place 

in the country, with a particular emphasis on the adoption of the 

Russian-style law on transparency of foreign influence that the ruling Georgian Dream Party recently adopted. 

First, allow me to present myself. I am Ivane Chkhikvadze, as 

it was already mentioned here, and I have been working as a leader of the EU integration program at the Civil Society Foundation 

for more than 10 years, and together with my colleagues, some of 

them are here, we have been supporting and promoting Georgia’s 

Europeanization and democratization process for decades. 

We have spent almost entire our lives fighting for Georgia’s freedom, democracy, and the future, that is, with Europe and with the 

West, and now when it comes to the topic of today’s hearing my 

country and my people are standing at the crossing point. 

Georgia will either continue its stride to become part of a free 

whole of Europe or yet again become part of Russia’s backyard as 

it was during the Soviet times. The choice of Georgian people is 

crystal clear. We are choosing freedom, democracy, rule of law, and 

see Georgia’s future in the European Union and NATO. 

As I am speaking here now the Georgian people are taking to the 

streets of Tbilisi and other towns of Georgia to ensure the country’s 

freedom and democracy. While the loud voice of Georgian people 

has been heard here in Washington, D.C., and in the capitals of the 

European Union it has not been heard by the ruling party Georgian Dream. 

Contrary to the will of the people the Georgian authorities are 

erecting the wall between Georgia and the West through adopting 

the law on transparency of foreign influence. The law will fully 

erase the critical voices and destroy the vibrant civil society that 

has been built in the country with the generous support of our 

friends and partners over the years including the U.S. Agency for 

International Development. 

The law goes against the U.S.-Georgia charter and strategic partnership that aims to bolster independent media, freedom of expression, and access to objective news and information. This law requires all organizations which receive more than 20 percent of 

their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, 

and in cases they refuse the law envisages forced registration and 

crippling fines. 


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The law applies not only to organizations but also to individuals. 

It would allow the state institutions to demand and access sensitive 

personal data of private citizens and seize their assets without due 

process. 

In less than five months Georgia will have crucial general elections. There is a high threat that these elections will take place 

without critical media, independent civil society, and local election 

observers. The law depicts civil society activists as traitors to the 

country and foreign agents and is being used by the ruling party 

to discredit the organizations and individuals that could otherwise 

help to preserve Georgia’s democracy in October. 

Even before the formal implementation of the law, many peaceful 

protesters have already been facing state-promoted terror. Hundreds of peaceful protesters have been arrested and beaten up and 

civil society experts like myself face regular threats against our 

lives and our families. Graffitis and posters, which one is here as 

you can see, with terms such as ′′enemy of the nation′′ and ′′a foreign agent lives here′′ are appearing at the offices and private 

homes of pro-democracy activists. 

Unidentified assailants have ambushed thousands of activists 

with impunity. Despite hundreds of arrests of peaceful protesters 

there has not been a single case where the state authorities effectively investigated and held accountable officials for excessive use 

of force or their responsibility for assaulting protest participants. 

It is clear that these types of actions are fully condoned or even 

encouraged by the ruling party. I would remiss if I did not mention 

one of the key drivers behind the foreign agent law which is the 

richest man in Georgia, the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. Mr. 

Ivanishvili, the founder and the leader of the Georgian Dream 

Party, in his recent speech on April 29 openly threatened civil society and any political opponents of the Georgian Dream with repressions. 

The ruling party is severely undermining Georgia’s future 

through increasing hostility towards Western democratic values 

and capturing the state institutions such as judiciary, law enforcement, prosecutor’s office, et cetera. All Georgian governments since 

the restoration of its independence in 1991 have been pursuing 

membership in the European Union and NATO and closer ties with 

the United States. 

The ruling party is the only government that is going against the 

will of the people and now is seeking to oppress them for wanting 

a closer alignment with Western democrats. The overwhelming majority of the Georgian society says its future in Europe is without 

Western friends—with Western friends and with the United States. 

The history of Georgia shows that fighting for freedom is part of 

our life. We know that we are fighting for our ancestors and also 

for our future generations and hold no desire to lose it. 

We acknowledge that we are not alone in this fight. We see and 

appreciate that our Western friends and allies are standing with 

us. In this regard, we value the recently initiated bill entitled 

MEGOBARI Act and I sincerely hope that this legislation will be 

adopted and enacted soon. 

We are now in a race against time and every minute counts 

when it comes to stopping Georgia’s turn away from democracy. 


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The stakes are very high for Georgia, Georgian people, and for our 

friends. It would be a real missed opportunity if Western friends 

of Georgia do not act now. 

We appreciate always all statements and supporting words. At 

the same time, we need concrete steps that will stop the current 

Georgian government from moving the country into the Russian 

orbit. The Georgian government cannot be allowed to sabotage our 

hard-fought democracy without consequences. 

Let me take this opportunity again to express my genuine appreciation for organizing this very timely and important hearing and 

I will be happy to address your questions. 

Thanks for your invitation. 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you very much, Mr. Chkhikvadze. 

We now proceed to Dr. Natalie Sabanadze. 

TESTIMONY OF NATALIE SABANADZE, SENIOR FELLOW, CHATHAM HOUSE, AND FORMER GEORGIAN AMBASSADOR TO 

THE EU 

Ms. SABANADZE: Thank you, Chair, honorable members of the 

Commission. 

Being able to address you today is a rare privilege and a great 

responsibility, first, because I am deeply honored and, second because I hope to do justice to the courage of thousands of my countrymen who are out in the streets defending their rights, their liberty, and their European future. 

If Georgia still feels like a free country it is thanks to popular 

resistance to authoritarianism and the spirit of defiance that is vividly manifested today. Popular protest is an antidote to political apathy but more so it is a response to the blocked arteries of public 

institutions. 

When institutional channels for voicing dissent or achieving 

change are closed mass protest is the only available form of civil 

engagement. In response, Georgia’s increasingly insecure ruling regime is reviving the Stalinist playbook and hunting treasonous 

agents inside and global enemies outside. 

Violence and intimidation rule the day and conciliation is not an 

offer. In today’s Georgia democracy is being destroyed by the hands 

of parliamentary supermajority. At the instruction of one unaccountable man, the supermajority is reversing George’s long-standing foreign policy priorities. 

It is destroying 30 years of gains, friendships, and partnerships 

that have sustained us since the end of Soviet rule. By adopting 

laws such as the one on transparency on foreign influence the ruling regime is subverting Georgia’s long-standing dream to rejoin 

the European family of free nations while blatantly denying that 

it is doing anything of the sort. 

As if in an Orwellian dystopia Georgians are being told that 

friends are enemies who wish war and destruction on us while enemies who occupy parts of the country are no longer a threat. Georgia’s rulers maintain that a law that contradicts the principles of 

democracy and human rights is good for us. They insist that it will 

only advance rather than derail Georgia’s European integration despite endless pronouncements from European officials to the contrary. 


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Having spoken to many international partners, and having read 

the Venice Commission’s and OSCE’s highly negative yet detailed 

assessment, Georgia’s rulers insist that they have not heard a single valid argument against their new legislation in the runup to 

parliamentary elections this fall. In this dialogue [of the death ?], 

truth falls victim. Black is white and white is black. Transparency 

and accountability are transformed into means of arbitrary persecution. Calls by well-meaning European partners for depolarization 

become justification for silencing opponents and stifling dissent. 

Ladies and gentlemen, at stake, is not just a law. The law is a 

symptom, not the cause, of the current political crisis, and Georgia 

is part of the trend, not an exception. Autocratic regimes from Russia to Venezuela are adopting such legislation to equip themselves 

with the legal instruments of repression to destroy civil society not 

only through imprisonment and violence but also through financial 

audits and technically lawful harassment. 

They are working to steal elections, not on the day of the vote 

with crude ballot stuffing but weeks and months in advance with 

elaborate systems of incentives and pressures. The methods set by 

autocracies are becoming more sophisticated, and more veiled in 

vocabularies of sovereignty and traditional values. Civic protest 

movements now tend to be described as color revolutions, the work 

of outsiders and of local traitors who are manipulated by foreign 

governments. 

These tactics aim at persuading people to stay out of politics and 

to trade their freedom for order, their rights for a chance to prosperity, and to accept the abuse of power for the sake of preserving 

the peace. 

The Georgian government has joined the anti-liberal anti-Western revolt spearheaded by Russia. In its war on Ukraine Russia 

does not seek only to subjugate the Ukrainian nation and to reestablish its sphere of influence. It also seeks to de-Westernize the 

global order. Ukraine is a major front while lesser ones have 

emerged in Georgia and elsewhere around the world. 

Recent policies of the Georgian government such as the foreign 

agents legislation, the handing over of critical infrastructure 

projects to the Chinese, the parroting of the Russian narrative 

about the decadent West, and the adherence to calls for dedollarization of the global economy are all signs of this transformation. 

Make no mistake, in this battle, the Georgian people and its government stand on opposite sides. This is why the aptly named 

MEGOBARI Act is so important. Georgians must fight this fight 

for themselves as we have been doing. 

We need friends. Those who disregard our peaceful and democratic will and who deny us the future we want for our children 

need to bear the consequences. Georgia as a country deserves your 

continued support. Individuals who decided to turn us into Russia’s 

grey zone for their shady business deals have to be punished. 

This is part of a global fight. If the world is to be divided by a 

new Iron Curtain once more then help us in our struggle not to end 

up on the wrong side again. 

Thank you. 

Chairman WILSON: Dr. Sabanadze, thank you so much. 


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We now proceed to Ambassador William Courtney. 

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM COURTNEY, [RET.], ADJUNCT SENIOR 

FELLOW, RAND CORPORATION, AND FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO GEORGIA 

Mr. COURTNEY: Thank you, Chairman Wilson, Ranking Member 

Cohen. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to testify regarding—[off mic]— 

and address the U.S. interests in Georgia, review U.S.—Georgian 

relations, and comment on implications. 

The United States has voiced strong support for the sovereignty, 

independence, and territorial integrity of Georgia since its independence. The U.S. seeks to protect the interests of thousands of 

American citizens who live in or visit Georgia and the U.S. businesses and NGOs. 

The United States wants to continue cooperation to ensure that 

critical components of Russia’s war on Ukraine do not pass through 

Georgia. Other law enforcement cooperation includes countering 

nuclear smuggling and terrorism. 

The United States supports independent Georgian NGOs that 

work to strengthen the country’s democratic institutions, an open 

trading route through Georgia as a lifeline for Armenia. The 

United States is concerned about Russia’s plans for a naval base 

in occupied Abkhazia. 

After the traumatic civil war in the early 1990s, President 

Eduard Shevardnadze managed to stabilize Georgia. The U.S. 

helped by providing large-scale humanitarian Food for Peace aid. 

Shevardnadze and his young allies made reforms but over time 

their momentum slowed. 

In 2003 unrest led to the Rose Revolution. Its leader, Mikheil 

Saakashvili, led a government that undertook anti-corruption reforms and built state institutions. Some 30,000 Georgian troops 

fought alongside U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

In 2005, President George W. Bush visited and declared Georgia 

a beacon of democracy—sorry, a beacon of liberty. In 2008, Russian 

forces invaded. The U.S. provided one billion in aid to help Georgia 

rebuild. 

In the 2012 elections, the Georgian Dream coalition funded by 

Bidzina Ivanishvili, as you mentioned, defeated Saakashvili’s party. 

In 2020, however, virtually all opposition parties boycotted parliament to protest against alleged election violations. Georgian 

Dream was angered by U.S. sanctions against officials engaging in 

illicit conduct. 

In recent years Georgian Dream has taken a more pro-Russian 

and anti-democratic course. A recent law could make Georgia a tax 

haven for dark money, as you mentioned. A foreign agent law modeled on the repressive Russian law has sparked the largest popular 

protests since independence. 

Georgian Dream may abuse the law to protect its hold on power. 

A new report by the German Marshall Fund foresees political violence around parliamentary elections in October. For nearly three 

decades a values-based partnership has been at the core of U.S.- 

Georgian relations. Now prospects are dimming. 


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The U.S. has announced a more restrictive visa policy for those 

who suppress civil society. Relations will take a turn for the worse 

if Georgian Dream rigs the October elections. As in Russia, the government might deny access to independent election monitors; ban 

advertising in, quote, ′′foreign agent,′′ end quote, media; and disqualify candidates. 

Georgian Dream could emulate Russia in other ways. It may ban 

organizations it deems as undesirable. Ivanishvili threatens that 

Saakashvili’s party will strictly answer for all its crimes. This hints 

at show trials. 

Targeted sanctions might raise costs to Ivanishvili and Georgian 

Dream of further repressive measures. The United States could 

specify more individuals as specially designated nationals, blocking 

their assets and prohibiting Americans from dealing with them. Coordinated U.S. and European measures are best. The leverage of 

the EU has a special weight. Germany says the European Union 

will not start accession negotiations so long as the foreign agent 

law is in effect. 

Polls show that large majorities of Georgians back EU membership and see Russia as the greatest political threat. These encouraging views and three decades of democratic progress in Western 

ties will influence Georgia’s future. Too, in a negative way will 

Russia’s occupation of one-fifth of Georgia’s territory. 

In closing, Georgians will not be denied their democratic and European futures and the West will not be deterred from helping 

them achieve these noble ambitions. Thank you. 

Chairman WILSON: Ambassador, thank you very much. We have 

been joined by Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. 

Just as we begin now with questions, we will be limiting ourselves to five minutes each and then very likely we will also be 

joined by other members and, in fact, a superstar just walked in, 

Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, who was born in the USSR. She 

was actually born in Ukraine and now is a member of Congress in 

the United States from Indiana. 

With this in mind, the five minutes now begins with me so begin 

the five-minute clock. Here we go. 

I actually want to begin in a very positive way. I am grateful to 

be joined by one of my grandsons today, Houston Wilson. Our family appreciates the people of Georgia and that his dad served with 

Georgian troops in Iraq. His dad is a Navy orthopedic surgeon and 

I know that he always was so appreciative of the courageous Georgian troops. You could count on them to provide the best security. 

Then, again, I am grateful that Houston is here as an intern with 

U.S. Senator Tim Scott. 

As we begin, too— 

Representative COHEN: Would you like Houston to come sit behind you like Representative Rose’s son? [LAUGHTER.] 

Chairman WILSON: No, we are not doing that. See, I told you all 

what a troublemaker the ranking member is. It is just a—no, hey, 

you have to see that. That was a—they do not allow this in the 

U.S. Senate, but in the House, we had a spectacle yesterday of a 

House member speaking with his son behind him who was actually 

communicating with his brother at home with different facial exVerDate Mar 15 2010 13:55 Dec 18, 2024 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\USERS\KKEY\ONEDRIVE - US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES\DOCUMENTS\118TH 

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pressions that were somewhat distracting. Anyway, back to what 

we are doing, okay? [LAUGHTER.] 

Hey, I had a wonderful visit to Tbilisi. The people are inspiring, 

how beautiful the countryside is, and then very humbling to Americans who see buildings hundreds and hundreds of years old and it 

just—the antiquities are such a reminder of what a great heritage 

the people of Georgia have and how it can be built upon. 

Then it was particularly interesting to me to be there with a 

joint parachute jump with—there were National Guard members 

from the state of Georgia who in a joint jump with troops from the 

nation of Georgia and as—when they landed and we were able to 

greet them and thank them for their service you had to look very 

carefully on the patch to see if it was the United States flag or the 

flag of the nation of Georgia because they—it was just really humbling to see how well—but it is part of something that is occurred 

and that is a friendship between the United States and Georgia. 

Mr. Chkhikvadze, a question I have for each of you and with the 

limited time, but what has America actually done to assist the people of Georgia over the years? 

Mr. CHKHIKVADZE: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

I think that you already provided some information at the beginning of our discussion, although support has been appreciated and 

provided by the United States, first and foremost, a lot has been 

done when it comes to the military support training and equipment 

of our military forces and also we do see and appreciate when it 

comes to the democratic support every—annually and every year. 

I think that this is something which is—as I mentioned at the 

beginning, which is something which is also at stake, and this support—I mean, the support to the people, to the Georgian society 

and Georgian country should be there. This is very much appreciated, very much supported, and very much welcomed. 

At the same time, as it was already repeated—my colleagues 

here—I think that those who are undermining the U.S.—Georgia 

partnership and also the future of Georgia towards the European 

Union they have to bear the responsibility. 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you. 

Dr. Sabanadze? 

Ms. SABANADZE: Thank you. 

Well, basically, since the regaining of independence United 

States has been supporting Georgia on its path to democratization 

and to European and Euro-Atlantic integration. It was mentioned 

here that every single government, despite of its color, despite of 

its problems, ups and downs, there has been one constant in Georgian foreign policy and that has been a drive towards the West and 

that drive has been very much supported by you. 

It was mentioned also that in the very difficult years in the 

1990s, humanitarian assistance helped thousands in Georgia to 

survive and then the U.S. assistance helped Georgia to consolidate 

as a state, to consolidate its institutions, and to help promote democracy and promote civil society. 

In fact, the reason why we have such a vibrant civil society is 

thanks to your assistance and assistance of our European partners, 

and when I said that what Putin is doing at the global scale, which 

is to de-Westernize the global order, these kind of laws the GeorVerDate Mar 15 2010 13:55 Dec 18, 2024 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\USERS\KKEY\ONEDRIVE - US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES\DOCUMENTS\118TH 

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gian government is now adopting aim at de-Westernization of Georgia. 

That is why these things are connected. Thank you. 

Chairman WILSON: I am going to—we are going to have a second 

round so I will get with Ambassador Courtney at that time. 

Indeed, we are in a global conflict that you have identified as dictators with the rule of gun invading democracies with the rule of 

law. Sadly, it was somewhat begun in 2008 with the illegal annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. 

We are now—we can talk about bicameral. Well, we are going to 

prove it right now in that we have House and Senate, we have Republicans—Democrats and Republicans—and so this is a unique 

Commission in that it is bicameral and bipartisan. 

Senator Blumenthal? 

STATEMENT OF RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, U.S. SENATE, FROM 

CONNECTICUT 

Senator BLUMENTHAL: Thank you, Chairman Wilson, and thank 

you to our very distinguished witnesses today. 

This issue is of tremendous importance, I think, to the American 

people. We need to make them more aware of it and that is why 

I am grateful to the bipartisan leadership of the Helsinki Commission—Chairman Wilson, Representative Cohen, and the entire 

Commission—for focusing on Georgia. 

I was part of a letter with Senate colleagues written recently to 

the Georgian prime minister about the proposed foreign agent law 

that would force nongovernmental organizations and independent 

media that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign donors to register as foreign agents and I am deeply disappointed that this measure has been signed into law despite significant protests from the Georgian people. 

I think it is just one example of how autocratic subjugation of 

freedom and independence in those areas is languishing and I 

think it undermines our relationship with Georgia. 

I would like to hear from our witnesses how you assess how effective this new law has been in, in effect, discouraging or deterring or degrading the kinds of organizations that pose alternatives 

to the government. 

Maybe we begin with you, Mr. Ambassador. 

Mr. COURTNEY: Thank you, Senator. 

The law has just come into effect. The best way to assess how 

the Georgian Dream is likely to use it is to look at what happened 

in Russia. In 2012 Russia passed a foreign agent law and then 

started banning independent media, for example, from receiving 

commercial advertising. Used the law to disqualify candidates for 

election. 

Russia—Putin did not think that was enough so in 2015 Russia 

passed an undesirable organization law. Russia has used the two 

of them together plus cynical means of implementing them basically to wipe out independent civil society in Russia. 

In Georgia, we may or may not be at the bottom. The downward 

spiral could continue if Georgia follows the path that Russia took 

after passing its foreign agent law. 

Senator BLUMENTHAL: Thank you. 


CSCE18-11 with DISTILLER
13 

Dr. Sabanadze? 

Ms. SABANADZE: Yes, I would agree with that. I think the law 

only recently has been enacted so it is a little bit early to see its 

effect. In fact, we can see the rhetoric that surrounded the adoption 

of this law. It had not been passed yet and yet the entire hierarchy 

of the ruling party was accusing basically everybody with a different opinion of being either a foreign agent or a traitor. 

It will and has unleashed a campaign of intimidation, which is 

extremely disconcerting. This law violates many principles of international law and the Georgian constitution but most importantly it 

stigmatizes organizations, media, and individuals for promoting 

Georgia’s democratic, independent, and pro-European future and it 

stigmatizes them calling them foreign agents. 

It is an extremely difficult label to carry so a lot of organizations 

will simply shut down. The fines are disproportionate and they will 

impact gravely because this is not a very rich civil society. I mean, 

and it is actually very transparent all the funding. They will have 

to close down and, of course, it contradicts the principles of freedom 

of association and freedom of expression. 

It also has violated due process because the adoption of the law 

was rushed through. The third reading took a grand total of sixtyseven seconds and there has been no consultation, no public debate. In fact, we know what it caused and it simply added to polarization. 

I think the signs so far are pretty bad and we do fear that unless 

there is a very—a response there will be more crackdown on freedoms and individual rights. 

Senator BLUMENTHAL: I do not know whether we have time for 

Mr. Chkhikvadze. 

Mr. CHKHIKVADZE: I will try to be short. I think that one of the 

biggest challenge here is discrimination and discreditation of those 

organizations which have been promoting democracy there. The 

Ministry of Justice is supposed to set up the list, the registry where 

all the organizations are supposed to register. Registration is something that civil society organizations, most of them, are not going 

to do because this is absolutely unlawful and unjustified. 

Then there will be the fines and there will be also the blocking 

of the accounts and this would be a big blow to the country’s democracy. This is what we are facing and this is happening five 

months before the general elections in the country. 

Senator BLUMENTHAL: Thank you. Thank you, Mr.— 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you very much, Senator. 

We now proceed to Ranking Member Steve Cohen of Tennessee. 

Representative COHEN: Thank you. Let me ask you—maybe we 

could start with Dr. Sabanadze. I asked the question earlier—and 

I thought I knew the answer and we got a little help—that there 

is a great desire to be part of the European Union and NATO and 

go Western and I heard that from everybody. 

Yet, Ivanishvili does not necessarily agree with that. Am I not 

correct? 

Ms. SABANADZE: Well, the truth is that our government and Mr. 

Ivanishvili know very well that about 80 percent of the population 

support Georgia’s membership in the European Union and a little 


CSCE18-11 with DISTILLER
14 

bit less but it is above 70 percent support membership in the 

NATO. 

For any political force to come out and openly say that they are 

against it will be a political suicide. That is why we have this kind 

of dystopian situation where the government pursues policies that 

openly contradict European values and undermine our chances for 

European integration while at the same time saying that nothing 

has changed, and that EU and NATO remain Georgia’s priorities. 

This is the problem. I do not think they want to do it. I do not 

think that they will take steps. There are nine suggestions there 

tabled for us to pursue and instead, we are adopting these Russian 

laws that do not serve Georgia’s interest and definitely do not serve 

Georgia’s European prospects. They maintain— 

Representative COHEN: Are you saying Ivanishvili does a good 

job of hiding his— 

Ms. SABANADZE: Yes. He is hiding behind the propaganda and 

very often he is positing the choice to the Georgian people between 

far away European integration prospects and peace, between prosperity now and protection of human rights. It is a devil’s bargain 

and this is what he is offering, and it is really, really veiled with 

the propaganda, veiled in the language of sovereignty, in the language of traditional values. This is a Russian playbook, and we 

need to call his bluff. 

Representative COHEN: Let me ask you, and if you do not—cannot help me one of the gentlemen might be able to help me. Tell 

me to the best of your knowledge what Saakashvili’s condition is— 

his health, his prison term, the support he might have in the country. 

Ms. SABANADZE: His support, I think, is best measured by the 

support for his party, which is UNM. According to polls, it is something between 10 percent to 15 percent, which has been quite consistent. I think his health is improving. He is not in prison. He is 

in a hospital, and the latest judgment from the European Court of 

Human Rights has been that his conditions are decent. 

Representative COHEN: Does anybody have anything different? 

Different prognosis? Diagnosis? Treatment? Nothing? 

Ambassador Courtney, what years were you in Georgia? What 

years were you an ambassador? 

Mr. COURTNEY: I was there from 1995 to 1997. I was our second 

ambassador. 

Representative COHEN: Okay. Things have changed. I yield back 

the balance of my time. 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you very much, Congressman. 

We now proceed to Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana. 

STATEMENT OF VICTORIA SPARTZ, U.S. HOUSE, FROM RHODE 

ISLAND 

Representative SPARTZ: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I just kind of have a few questions to just follow up on what you 

mentioned. I think, Dr. Sabanadze, you mentioned it is a Russian 

playbook and the Russian playbook did not work in Russia very 

well. You know, a lot of people do not realize that, you know, really 

aggression—Russian aggressions pretty much started in 2008, you 

know, under Republican administration. Then continued under 


CSCE18-11 with DISTILLER
15 

Democrat administrations, and it is continuous and, you know, 

they advance quite a bit. 

The lay of the land is not the best, and the West has been extremely, extremely weak in dealing with this situation. From your 

assessment, you know, just understanding the situation in Georgian politics—and I am not even—will try to claim my understanding on this issue—but what do you think the things need to 

happen and we—as Americans, we should do to really start dealing 

with this situation? Because it is escalating further and further, 

and it is not going to get better. From your perspective, what needs 

to happen with what we are doing or not doing related to Georgia 

right now? 

Ms. SABANADZE: Thank you. It is a million-dollar question and a 

difficult one to answer, of course. As you say it has a local Georgia 

dimension—American policy towards Georgia—and it also has a 

global dimension which is U.S. policy towards Russia because these 

two are interconnected. 

If Russia succeeds Georgia will turn into a gray zone, which I 

mentioned, and Russia will be able to benefit from the transit 

routes. Russia will be able to benefit from infrastructure. It does 

not have to invade again Georgia. It only needs to control it 

through local government. 

Georgia will be turning away from the West, and we see this 

happening already, the kind of multi-vectoring of Georgia’s foreign 

policy, which has never been the case before —rapprochement with 

Russia despite 2008 and despite the occupation of Georgian territories, strategic partnership with China, and so on and so forth. 

Russia’s war against Ukraine has enabled autocrats around the 

world and leaders such as we have to challenge rules, challenge democracy at home, maximize power, and think that they can go 

unpunished. Here is the second part and that is to impose consequences for this because like Ukraine Georgia is also a battleground, and in Ukraine, you have— 

Representative SPARTZ: What—if you can give me some examples, you know, just kind of concrete things that you believe that 

we have mechanisms to start kind of you know—[LAUGHS]—be a 

little bit maybe tougher, maybe tougher on some of these issues. 

What consequences you think would be effective to say these governments need to decide which sides they are taking? 

Ms. SABANADZE: There are punitive measures such as sanctions 

that I think have to be targeted and individuals need to bear responsibility and these include visa bans. These include financial 

sanctions—you know, their inability to send their children to study 

in expensive universities here in this country. These affect individual lives and they are individually responsible. 

I think this should not affect support in general because, on the 

contrary, Georgia and Georgian civil society, and media, need 

greater support today, and I also believe that one policy choice 

would be to look at the election situation very closely and to think 

about the election observation in long term because, as I said, 

methods are getting sophisticated. 

It is not so obvious that you see—I mean, they may be but, you 

know, there is a long system of completely unraveling the political 


CSCE18-11 with DISTILLER
16 

playing field in a way that basically elections become useless, that 

this is a foregone conclusion. 

There will be a competition because Georgians—there are parties, and they will be contested. This contestation will only give legitimacy but not provide for a real change. This is something that 

needs to be looked at. 

Representative SPARTZ: Right. Sanction some individuals particularly and then also, look at the election. This Commission has an 

observation function and I actually always think it is problematic 

that we do not look— that they take—do not take risk-based approach how we deal with elections and potential abuses, not, you 

know, a kind of one-time-fits-all approach. I think that is something that has to change because we are involved in that. 

You know, I think my time has expired. If we go again, I might 

ask Ambassador questions, but I think you brought—and the structural system, a lot of these former Soviet republics, you know, unfortunately, did not create a legislative framework. They did not 

have some, like, Founding Fathers, unfortunately—[LAUGHS]—to 

really create a proper legal system of checks and balances. It allowed them to centralize power back so quickly and it, unfortunately, happened to most of them. 

I yield back. 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you very much, Congresswoman 

Congresswoman Spartz has been a leader on behalf of fair and 

free elections around the world and so her interest is proven by her 

actions. 

Now, we will have a second round and the question that I had 

initially asked nobody can answer better now with the ambassador 

as to the benefits of the relationship between the nation of Georgia 

and the United States. 

Mr. COURTNEY: Thank you, sir. 

As I mentioned in my testimony and Dr. Sabanadze noted—[off 

mic]—in the early years when people were hungry were coming out 

of a civil war. That was tens of millions of dollars, maybe over a 

hundred million dollars. That was quite substantial at the time 

and pretty important. 

Then also at the beginning we and our European allies worked 

together to try to promote civil society, democratic reforms, rule of 

law reforms, economic reforms, and that has been consistent all the 

way through. 

The U.S. has been particularly active on the security front. We 

had a Georgian training and equipment program for a number of 

years which helped Georgian forces in Afghanistan and Iraq fight 

and those were—they took on some of the toughest assignments in 

those wars. 

Then we developed a program to help Georgia with its territorial 

defense and that program has been more recent. That is the program that Georgia needs to deal with a potential Russian threat. 

We have played a quite substantial role in all the areas, especially 

security. 

Chairman WILSON: It is really humbling to know the assistance 

of food, on something as basic as that, at a time so important. 

Then, Dr. Sabanadze, I really am so grateful for you raising how 

a foreign agent law sounds so benign except for one thing. It has 


CSCE18-11 with DISTILLER
17 

been a precursor of dictatorship—a precursor, sadly, in the Russian 

Federation. 

I have been to Russia a number of times. I thought they were 

going to be part of modern Western civilization—their art, their literature, their architecture that we have adopted. It did not occur 

to me that Putin would be successful in creating a dictatorship but 

that is, sadly, true. Then you flash forward to another country that 

at one time was one of the wealthiest in the Western Hemisphere. 

No longer, and that is Venezuela. Over and over again there is an 

example. 

It is a precursor to a dictatorship and—but doing away with the 

abilities of political advertising—it says foreign agent. Well, it is 

really not a foreign agent; it is domestic political activity. 

Again, explain step-by-step how a dictator—and, hey, I want to 

mention something. I try to call it dictatorships. People talk about 

authoritarians. They talk about autocrats. People do not understand that but something that really offends dictators is to be 

called dictators, and so the dictatorship of Putin, the dictatorship 

of Xi, Khamenei, we need to address this. How can we help the 

people of Georgia not experience a dictatorship? 

Ms. SABANADZE: Well, that is exactly what Georgians are fighting 

for right now. I think it is very important to understand how these 

new types of autocracies come around. We do not see tanks rolling 

through the streets anymore. Very often you see democraticallyelected governments subverting democracy. Institutions that 

brought them to power they are busy destroying those institutions, 

and the freedom of expression, freedom of media, that they took advantage of, and the power which was out there to be contested they 

took advantage of this. They are destroying this through parliamentary supermajorities, for example, which is what happened 

in Georgia and is happening in many other parts of the world. 

This is a gradual process. It goes by the destruction of one institution after another. Sometimes it is called a reform. Sometimes it 

is just a change of leadership. It is—because it is gradual it is difficult to spot. It is not, as I said, a coup d’etat which you see and 

very easy to respond to. 

Elections, again, are something that are being stolen long before 

because you have such an uneven playing field that democracy does 

not function anymore and the political space for democratic contestation is no longer there. 

These are the kind of hybrid dictatorships, if you would like, who 

maintain at the same time a facade of democracy and maintain 

that they are democracies and like in our case they maintain that 

they want to pursue European and Euro-Atlantic integration even 

though everything they do goes against it. 

This is the kind of contradiction that we have to see and understand, and very often our methods are outdated —the methods of 

responding. Their methods have become more sophisticated but our 

democracy promotion methods, and election observation methods, 

are rather outdated so they do not really capture what is going on. 

The real help for Georgia is to empower these people and those 

who are out in the streets they need protection because if they are 

left and if Georgian society is left alone facing a regime that is inVerDate Mar 15 2010 13:55 Dec 18, 2024 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\USERS\KKEY\ONEDRIVE - US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES\DOCUMENTS\118TH 

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creasingly insecure and as a result increasingly violent, I think 

there will be a lot of disappointment. 

Your assistance, this discussion, the MEGOBARI Act, and more 

legislation of this type would be a very important signal. 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you so much. It is interesting to think 

of incrementalism as to dictatorships being established as opposed 

to a Bolshevik revolution or whatever that totalitarians come to 

power. 

We now proceed to Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee. 

Representative COHEN: I think I am going to pass. 

Chairman WILSON: I have never heard him this quiet. Anyway, 

this—but hey, I know we can count on pithy questions from my 

dear friend Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana. 

Representative SPARTZ: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ambassador, my first question is for you. I think you were an 

ambassador in the early—late 1990s, right, in Georgia, correct? 

Yes. I actually lived in the late 1990s, in fact, Ukraine at that time. 

My observation after the Soviet Union fell apart, you know, it was 

Wild West. The early 1990s were terrible. 

At the end of the 1990s, there were—some positive things were 

happening. There were some trends and building some democratic 

institutions. I do not think they have ever been built, you know, 

unfortunately. That is why it was so easy to really corrupt and 

erode them and not really have, you know, no democratic institutions and a lot of this is just appearance of that. 

From your perspective, you were involved, you know, in 1995, 

1997. That was very challenging times and very —and most of 

these Republicans at that time still were more pro-American, I 

would argue, because even Russia was not—you know, so what 

things went wrong and what things we did not do as a policymaker 

here? 

I was not American at that time. I came here in 2000. [LAUGHS.] 

You know, I have my observations. You have been actually a leader 

at that time reading foreign policy. What do you think we should 

have not done and maybe we should look back and make some adjustments now? 

Mr. COURTNEY: Let me make a comparison between Ukraine and 

Georgia. For a long time, Ukraine and Georgia seemed to be on 

pretty much a parallel path moving to the European Union, moving 

to a pro-Western future. 

Occasionally there were problems with stolen elections or leaders 

who wanted to turn the clock back so popular revolutions took 

place. The first one was the Rose Revolution in Georgia. Then a 

year or so later it was the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and then 

in 2014 a second popular revolution in Ukraine in the Maidan. 

What we see today is a vibrant democracy in Ukraine that has 

benefited from both of those popular revolutions which have been 

mid-course corrections in the democratic path, if you will. We see 

a democracy in Ukraine that is so strong that it is surviving even 

an all-out war with Russia. 

What happened to Georgia? Georgia had won but then Georgia 

had different traditions—you know, a less Western tradition, if you 

will, than Ukraine had and so it became easier for authoritarianVerDate Mar 15 2010 13:55 Dec 18, 2024 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\USERS\KKEY\ONEDRIVE - US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES\DOCUMENTS\118TH 

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minded people to take Georgia away off the path. Crime and corruption were a bigger issue in some cases in Georgia. 

Now Georgia may be at another crossroads like Ukraine was in 

2014. These elections are in October, if those elections are rigged 

in a major way then as in Ukraine there could be another color revolution in Georgia. 

We really should keep our eye on those elections. Now, the West 

can help. We fund independent election monitors. We criticize authoritarian moves. It is useful to understand that the West really 

is not a major player. We can help at the margins but it is what 

the people or the country do themselves. 

The Ukrainians built their democracy themselves with some 

Western support. Georgians are building their future as well. 

Representative SPARTZ: Right. I agree. Democracy can be only 

built, you know, from the ground up, but I would probably disagree 

with your definition of a vibrant democracy. We are not going to 

go there—in Ukraine, so we are not going to go there. 

A question for you, Mr. Chkhikvadze. I do not know if I said it 

right. You know, you are dealing with the EU a lot, and where is 

the position right now with the EU? Because in a lot of ways EU 

with all of this initiative has an opportunity, really, to help to reform some of these institutions and how—and I have not seen them 

really doing much. You know, I will be honest with you. I was— 

you know, dealing with European I get, like—[LAUGHS]—in the 

wake of dealing with them I do not know how I used to live there. 

You know, what is your perspective and assessment of what is 

really happening right now with—I understand you dealt with the 

EU, and what they are doing, and how helpful they are, maybe, to 

incentivize some of these countries to move in more democratic directions, including Georgia? 

Mr. CHKHIKVADZE: Thank you. 

I will just start with your previous question, if I may, when it 

comes to what the U.S. should do and when it comes to the support 

to Georgia. 

First and foremost, I think that you can help us in regards not 

to allowing the ruling party to rig the elections in October. This is 

extremely, extremely crucial. 

Secondly, I think that some of the proposals are already in the 

MEGOBARI Act but, first, we should start from the election observations and allow this to be free, fair, and competitive. 

Thirdly, it was already mentioned that one of the crucial supports which U.S. is providing to Georgia is its nonrecognition policy. As you know, the two parts of Georgia is occupied by Russia 

and there is an attempt by Russians to— and then also others to 

recognize its independence, and the U.S. is very much backing us 

not to—to make sure that this does not happen. To continue that 

policy would be very valuable. 

Also, when it comes to security support this is also very important and, last but not least, civil society support. This is also, very 

important. 

Coming back to your question about the European Union, as you 

know, we are now in the process of accession and we are now in 

the—I mean, there is a proposal that Georgia has to implement the 

nine steps—nine recommendations—from the European Union side. 


CSCE18-11 with DISTILLER
20 

Unfortunately, six months after it was proposed nothing has 

been done by the Georgian authorities. The ball is in our court 

now, and we have to deliver on very important issues and very important policy fields like the judiciary, fighting against elite corruption, et cetera, et cetera. 

We do not see that there is a political will there that is there in 

the case of our government. Unfortunately, there is not much 

progress in that regard. Otherwise, as we hear every time from the 

EU member states and the European Union in general, is that the 

door is open, and we have to deliver on that progress further on 

this road. Thank you. 

Representative SPARTZ: Yes. Thank you. Yield back. 

Chairman WILSON: Thank you very much, Congresswoman 

Spartz. She always proves her enthusiasm and so we can count on 

that. 

As we conclude, I also want to point out that I am the co-chair 

of the EU Caucus and I have visited the European Union countries 

and, gosh, the economic benefit and opportunities that are provided 

are just—would be so wonderful for the people of Georgia. 

At this time we shall adjourn and I would like to invite the three 

witnesses to please come up front to get a picture with the members of the Commission who are here. With that, we are—and I 

want to thank the staff members who have helped make the Helsinki Commission so successful on behalf of the people of the 

United States. 

With that, we are adjourned. [Sounds gavel.] 

[Whereupon, at 3:20 p.m., the hearing ended.] 

Æ 


CSCE18-11 with DISTILLER
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