Shaheen, Risch Welcome Summoning of Georgian Ambassador, Say GD, Not U.S., Undermines Georgia’s Democracy
U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Jim Risch (R-ID), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, welcomed the State Department’s move to summon the Georgian ambassador and urged the Donald Trump administration to consider recent developments in the country “before pursuing any change to the bilateral relationship.”
“Let us be clear: it is Georgian Dream, not the United States, that is undermining Georgia’s democracy and ability to determine their future,” the Senators said in an October 8 statement, calling “unacceptable” the Georgian Dream government’s targeting of former U.S. government employees “by making baseless allegations that they are undermining Georgia’s government.”
The statement followed the State Department’s summoning of Georgian Ambassador Tamar Taliashvili over remarks by Georgia’s State Security Service chief, Mamuka Mdinaradze, who said that the embassy in Thailand – later identified by his reference to “American taxpayers’ money” – was funding people in Georgia “for anti-Chinese purposes,” but that the funds were instead used to support “radicals against the government for revolutionary purposes.”
The State Department said it “requested a meeting” with Taliashvili to deliver “serious objections to statements by Georgian government officials amplifying false media reports mischaracterizing routine U.S. government financial transfers to former U.S. employees.”
“We welcome the Department of State’s decision to summon the Georgian Ambassador to address these disturbing developments,” the Senators said, “And we urge the Trump Administration to consider recent actions by the Georgian government before pursuing any change to the bilateral relationship.” Shaheen and Risch extended “unwavering, bipartisan support to the Georgian people who simply wish to claim their right to self-determination.”
The Senators also said they are “increasingly concerned” by what they called the “deteriorating political situation in Georgia” and the GD’s “troubling actions” following the October 4 local elections.
“Prime Minister Kobakhidze’s decision to outlaw opposition parties and jail their leaders is egregious, undemocratic and yet another indication that Georgian Dream is wholly uninterested in pursuing a path toward normalized political dialogue,” the statement noted.
“Politically-motivated investigations and intimidation of civil society leaders, particularly those who have worked with the United States government and testified before our committee, are an attempt to silence dissent in a country with a proud history of speaking truth to power,” the statement further said.
Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on October 9 slammed the country’s international partners, including the U.S. and the EU, for “failing to condemn or distance themselves” from the election-day unrest in Tbilisi, saying they “indirectly yet clearly” backed “overthrow and violence.”
Kobakhidze also said during the same briefing that the U.S. State Department should prove “that it acts not under the influence of the ‘deep state,’ but in accordance with the genuine interests of the American people,” adding that “the simplest proof of this would be to condemn the attempt to overthrow the government.”
Also Read:
- 07/10/2025 – Kobakhidze Offers Reset With West, Threatens to End Rustaveli Protests
- 07/10/2025 – GD Says Expelling Ambassadors ‘Counterproductive’ as MFA Briefs Diplomats
- 05/10/2025 – Kobakhidze Doubles Down on the Narrative of Retribution
- 26/09/2025 – Kavelashvili Says He Spoke With Trump About Restarting Relations at UN Dinner
- 02/12/2024 – Senators Shaheen, Risch Express Concern Over Violence in Georgia, Call on U.S. Sanctions Against GD Gov’t
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