Whatever term you use, the consequence is the same. These visa designations mean that the designated individuals and their immediate non-US citizen family members are not eligible to enter the United States, said U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, on Thursday.

According to the Ambassador, “Any credible independent investigation would come to the same result”.

“On the question of sharing information, the basis of this is a variety of information sources, including some publicly available information. If the Georgian authorities want to open their own investigation into these allegations, much of the information is known and has been widely known for years. I’m confident that any credible independent investigation would come to the same result,” Kelly Degnan stated.

On April 5, the US imposed sanctions against Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, and Valerian Tsertsvadze.

Following the meeting with the US Ambassador on April 7, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili remarked, “Kelly Degnan said that this is not a sanction, but a visa restriction, and there was a translation problem”.U