The political party United Neutral Georgia has issued a strongly worded statement condemning the British government’s decision to impose sanctions on Georgian television channels Imedi and PosTV, describing the move as the latest act of political blackmail against Georgia, orchestrated by what it terms “oligarchic families” operating through a morally discredited UK government.

The sanctions, announced on February 24, have drawn criticism from the party, which argues they are intended to coerce the two broadcasters into abandoning their editorial independence.

“We wish to respond to yet another attempt at political blackmail against our country, this time carried out through the hands of Great Britain,” the statement reads. “Prolonging the war with Russia remains in their interest, and to that end, they continue to use their own puppets.”

The party contends that the sanctions will fail in their intended purpose.

“The outcome of sanctioning Imedi and PosTV is known in advance; this step will clearly have no effect on the editorial policies of these television channels, nor on the firm position of their audience, that is, the majority of the Georgian people, never to allow Georgia to be turned into a proxy state.”

United Neutral Georgia’s statement recalls what it describes as Britain’s “fateful role” in April 2022, when it allegedly torpedoed a peace agreement that had already been signed by the parties to the conflict.

The statement expresses particular outrage at what it sees as a grotesque inversion of values: press freedom awards being handed to figures the party considers provocateurs, while sanctions are wielded against broadcasters that refuse to peddle what it calls false narratives — including, it says, the narrative of Ukraine’s inevitable victory.

“The deep state has told us, in Britain’s name, that truth is punishable and that preserving peace and protecting sovereignty is a crime.”

The party calls on the Georgian government to pursue consistent legal countermeasures against organisations and individuals it accuses of spreading the BBC’s narratives about the alleged gassing of citizens, and demands firm diplomatic responses to what it describes as “utterly brazen attacks by ambassadors who have overstepped all diplomatic bounds” against independent media and journalists.

“Arming the Georgian people with the truth and fully neutralising the deep state’s agent networks is the guarantee that no amount of external blackmail, at any stage, will be able to influence the country’s socio-political processes,” the statement concludes.

On February 24, it was announced that the British government had imposed sanctions on the television companies “Imedi” and “PosTV”.