Kobakhidze: Claiming transparency opposes democracy is pure absurdity; new US administration is sharpening its own foreign agent laws

“When someone insists to you that transparency is somehow anti-democratic, the complete absurdity of the argument is immediately self-evident. When forced to defend such absurdity, it reveals crude political motivations, and it was precisely those crude political motives that dictated branding our Transparency Law as ‘Russian law’,” stated Georgian PM Irakli Kobakhidze.

The head of government pointed out that the US administration is currently moving to amend its own foreign transparency statutes to introduce even stricter, clearer provisions. He described this move as entirely logical.

“Regarding the campaign waged against our transparency legislation, including by the previous US administration, it was unequivocally a double standard built entirely on falsehoods. We pointed this out at the time, but today we can speak even more candidly.

When someone tries to convince you that transparency contradicts democratic principles, the absurdity is blatant on its face. When you are forced to peddle absurdity, it exposes underlying, heavy-handed political interests. It was precisely such interests that fueled the label ‘Russian law’, a total farce and an utterly shameful campaign in which the former US Ambassador and former EU Ambassador were actively involved.

Now, the new US administration itself is ensuring that corresponding amendments and clearer provisions are introduced into its own foreign agent legislation, which is entirely understandable. Transparency, after all, remains one of the fundamental pillars of democracy,” Kobakhidze declared.