GD's Mdinaradze: Georgian Foreign Agents Law serves same purpose as US FARA

Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream (GD) executive secretary and parliamentary majority leader, Mamuka Mdinaradze, has declared that the country’s new Foreign Agents Registration Act is an exact copy of the American Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and serves the same purpose in strengthening Georgia. Speaking to journalists on May 31, the day the law came into effect, Mdinaradze said that, “Just as the American law strengthens the United States, our law will strengthen Georgia.”

Mdinaradze also lashed out at the two-year campaign against the law, which he called the “scam of the century.” He claimed that the “No to the Russian Law” movement was a foreign-funded project, backed by tens of millions of dollars, designed to “brainwash citizens and justify external financing for revolution, sabotage, and economic collapse in Georgia.” According to him, these efforts failed, and “Georgia has won.”

The Georgian Foreign Agents Registration Act, which came into force on May 31, 2025, mandates that media, civil society organizations, and other groups receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad must register as “foreign agents.” The law requires them to disclose their finances publicly, with penalties of fines or imprisonment of up to five years for violations.