“Regrettably, the statement of Mattew Miller is nothing but the continuation of double standards and an insult to Georgian people,” said Guram Macharashvili, the People’s Power MP.

According to Macharashvili, Georgia is not a country where “neither laws can be read nor the developments in the world acknowledged.”

“As the US President and Spokesperson of the US Department of State declare, the violence on the part of US rallies is deplorable, but in Georgia, this violence is welcome. Transparency in the US is welcome but regrettable in Georgia. It means that we should not live according to international standards, considering reality, but per instructions. This is a vassal attitude,” he said, adding Georgia would adopt the law, which would be Georgian.

Guram Macharashvili reminded that the Prime Minister proposed diplomats, including the US ambassador, to answer any questions over the law on Transparency of Foreign Influence. He said that a similar attitude undermined Georgia-US relations and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

“Any Georgian who knows that the country should integrate into the Euro-Atlantic space and gets insults from the US high-ranking officials, when FARA reports not only foreign governments but Mikheil Saakashvili’s family members and Georgian TV Company Formula, the US official person lies to Georgian people that FARA is about people acting on behalf of a foreign government.

At the same time, we remember the letter from the NGO sector, the letter from the international NGO sector in America to Congress, that they condemn that FARA should not refer to the NGO sector. So, these lies undermine the Georgian-American relations,” he said.

“The United States Foreign Agents Registration Act is to people who are acting on behalf of a foreign government, not people who are doing legitimate nongovernment organization work, who are doing humanitarian work, who are doing civil society work. It’s a very different type of thing,” said Matthew Miller, Spokesperson of the US Department of State, at the daily press briefing on May 7.

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said that FARA includes Giuli Alasania (jailed ex-president’s mother) and Davit Kezerashvili’s (ex-defence minister) Formula TV.

“These people, for 12 years, have not acted on behalf of the government. Such disinformation inspired radical groups.”