Tbilisi Mayor calls UK sanctions against Imedi, PosTV ‘unfair’

Kakha Kaladze, Mayor of Tbilisi, has criticised recent sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom on Georgian broadcasters Imedi TV and PosTV, as well as calls in the European Parliament to sanction the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, describing them as “unfair” and lacking justification.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Kaladze said, “they impose sanctions, adopt meaningless resolutions. There is no argument - only unfair treatment, threats, and blackmail.” He argued that repeated calls for sanctions against Ivanishvili and party leaders represented a longstanding pattern of unfair targeting.

“How many times must Bidzina Ivanishvili be sanctioned? How many times must we be sanctioned? For so many years, they have been hitting the same spot, imposing sanctions, adopting meaningless resolutions. There is no argument - only unfair treatment, threats, and blackmail. This is a sad reality,” Kaladze said. He added that he expected some changes in the European bureaucratic approach in the future.

Regarding the UK sanctions against Imedi and PosTV, Kaladze claimed that he saw “no argument” for the action. “It means nothing to me what the UK considers. Years ago, whatever a foreign bureaucrat said about Georgia, no matter how absurd, was treated as absolute truth. That attitude existed. Today, the situation in the country and the world is completely different,” he said.

Kaladze stressed that decisions about Georgian media or politics “should respect the country’s sovereignty”. 

 “Whatever decision was made regarding the television channels, it is unfair treatment. If we go deeper, we will see that there is no argument. This is not the first time Georgia has faced unfair treatment, which is completely unacceptable. We have spoken about this many times. We respect all countries, including EU members, but they must also respect our sovereignty. No matter how large a country is, it should not interfere in the internal political affairs of another country,” he said.