New US Ambassador to Georgia says sanctions “kind of indication” to Gov’t

Robin Dunnigan, the newly appointed Ambassador of the United States to Georgia, has stated her country’s sanctions on certain individuals in Georgia was a “kind of indicator” to the Government. 

 

In his comment for Radio Liberty this week, following the US sanctions on Otar Partskhaladze, the former Prosecutor-General of Georgia for his alleged cooperation with the Russian intelligence and imposing visa restrictions on three acting and one former judge earlier this year for their alleged corruption, the diplomat stressed domestic authorities could use the “indication” to open an investigation. 

 

“Some of them [the sanctions] are aimed at promoting accountability, fighting corruption. The purpose of sanctions against Russia is to stop actions in favor of Russia, as well as to stop the promotion of the Russian war machine, which Russia uses not only to carry out aggression in Ukraine, but also elsewhere.

 

“So, when we apply sanctions, we expect countries not only to protect them, but when these people are citizens of individual countries, this is useful information for governments to investigate possible cases of corruption by them, or, in the case of Partskhaladze, a case of possible very close interaction with FSB. We would advise governments in all cases to use our sanctions as a kind of indication that they can investigate,” said the Ambassador. 

 

Grigol Liluashvili, the head of the Georgian State Security Service, last month said his body had obtained “no evidence” from the US banking the allegations, and added Partskhaladze, who took official post in 2013, had already left the country.