Former President Zourabichvili: Georgia faces full set of Russian-style laws aimed at turning country into Moscow’s reflection

Georgia’s fifth President Salome Zourabichvili on Sunday criticised the Government’s latest legislative initiatives, saying the country was now facing not a single “Russian law”, but an entire system of Russian-style legislation designed to transform Georgia into a mirror image of Russia.

In a statement posted on social media, Zourabichvili said the newly enacted Public Service Law, which took effect on November 1, was part of this broader trend. The law bans public servants from engaging in additional paid activities without written approval from their supervisors, with such permission granted for only one year at a time.

“We are no longer dealing with just one Russian law, but with the full body of Russian-style legislation aimed at fundamentally changing Georgia’s state identity and turning it into a reflection of our northern neighbour”, Zourabichvili wrote.

She described the new public service rules as a tool for total politicisation of the civil sector, noting that they subject public employees to strict bureaucratic control and restrict academic and professional freedom.

“This law places public servants in complete subordination to the bureaucratic hierarchy, meaning the total politicization of the civil service. It also limits teaching opportunities for those not seen as politically loyal, effectively imposing new financial pressure on independent or opposition-minded citizens”, she said.

Zourabichvili added the rapid adoption of such laws without public debate or discussion suggests they were copied directly from Moscow, rather than developed in Tbilisi.

“These harmful laws, initiated and adopted within days, are not the product of Georgian thought. They are copied - plain and simple”, she wrote.