The United States has paused more than $95 million in foreign assistance to Georgia, a move that came after the country’s Parliament began requiring nongovernmental organizations, journalists, and activists to register as “foreign agents” if they receive funding from abroad.
“The [Georgian] population wants an open society. They want a democratic country. And their current leaders are moving them in the wrong direction,” U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Devex. “This is a clear demonstration that we won’t just say, it’s okay, drift towards Russia and our relationship won’t change. It will change.”
The multimillion-dollar suspension includes “certain USAID assistance that directly benefits the government of Georgia,” a USAID spokesperson told Devex. The source did not clarify which assistance would be halted in particular, but USAID contributes more to this Eastern European country than all other U.S. institutions combined.