Irakli Kadagishvili, the ruling Georgian Dream party member, addressed concerns regarding the recent suspension of $95 million in aid from the United States, emphasizing that this amount is not included in Georgia’s budget.

“I want to emphasize that the $95 million cannot be found in Georgia’s budget. Pensions, salaries, soldiers’ and policemen’s, state institutions, and social programs are not funded from abroad. Everything is financed from the state budget of Georgia, including the Lugar laboratory,” Kadagishvili stated.

“If any research project at Lugar’s lab were to stop, it would certainly be a cause for concern. However, I fail to see a logical connection between transparency and Lugar’s lab. It is well known that Russia has consistently called for the closure of the Lugar laboratory. I don’t understand why the United States is aligning with Russia’s narrative,” he remarked.

Kadagishvili suggested that the pressure on Georgia might be an attempt to influence the Georgian people for the upcoming elections.

“Such pressure on Georgia aimed at one simple goal, to somehow influence the Georgian people, to blackmail them to somehow get some percentage for the bankrupt National Movement for the October 26 elections,” he remarked.