US Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) issued a statement after speaking with Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili. President Zurabishvili, who was popularly elected and is a leading critic of Prime Minister Irakli Khobakidze’s Georgian Dream Party, listened to the Senators’ outline their objections to democratic backsliding in Georgia following the government’s decision to suspend its European Union accession agenda.
“We spoke with Georgian President Zurabishvili to convey our bipartisan support for her leadership and express our serious concern over the violent and brutal response to peaceful protests following the Georgian Dream’s decision to suspend the country’s European Union accession negotiations.
“For days, the people of Georgia have exercised their right to peaceful protest following the unconstitutional decision to disregard the aspirations of the vast majority of Georgians who want a future in the European Union. There is strong, bipartisan and bicameral support for the people of Georgia. This should serve as a reminder to Georgian Dream that US policy will remain unchanged in the coming months.
“We welcome the Biden Administration’s recent announcement of its intent to apply targeted sanctions on those responsible for undermining Georgia’s institutions and violence against its people and we hope steps are taken to expedite this process. The coming days will be critical for Georgia’s future and the United States must continue its 32-year tradition of supporting its fragile but hard-fought democracy.”
On Tuesday, Chair Cardin and Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) issued a statement standing with the people of Georgia as they peacefully defend their democratic and European aspirations against the violent repression by the Georgian Dream party after its decision to withdraw from European Union membership negotiations.
