US Assistant Secretary of State to meet Georgian Archbishop, civil society leader in Washington

US Assistant Secretary of State O’Brien is scheduled on Thursday to meet with Georgian Orthodox Church Archbishop Iakob of Bodbe and Ketevan Chachava, the Executive Director of the Center for Development and Democracy, at the Department of State in Washington.

The meeting comes amid the ongoing tension between the Government and Georgia and the US, with the latter imposing sanctions on Georgian officials for alleged human rights violations and “undermining democracy”.

The bilateral ties became particularly tense after Tbilisi’s adoption of the controversial foreign influence transparency law earlier this year, which was proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, targeting domestic organizations obtaining more than 20 percent of their incomes from abroad.