Before the October 26 election, Dafna Rand, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, touched upon Russia’s influence over Georgia and the possible impacts it may have on the upcoming elections.
At a discussion hosted by the International Republican Institute and the Atlantic Council, Rand spoke about Russia’s attempts to weaken democracies, particularly in its neighboring countries. She also noted that Moscow has Georgia’s ruling party’s back, while the latter even employs similar oppressive measures, such as the ‘foreign agents’ law.
Rand further emphasized that while a fair victory of the ‘Georgian Dream’ is not necessarily an issue, the resulting limitation on political competition can be. She also mentioned that 80% of the Georgian population wants to join the EU, while Russia restricts these efforts to draw the country back into its realm.
“I’ll stop talking about Georgia with that, but you probably got the main point that we’re worried, and the US government is watching [the election] at the highest level, as well as the US Congress,” the U.S. Assistant Secretary said.
