The United States on Friday sanctioned Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister widely seen as the country’s de facto leader, saying he was undermining democracy and allowing Russia to benefit.
Ivanishvili, who made billions in Russia in metals and telecoms in the 1990s, has spearheaded a turn away from the West in Georgia and accused foreign intelligence agencies of trying to drive it into war with Russia.
Critics say that under his Georgian Dream party, the country has become more authoritarian and pro-Moscow.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was sanctioning the reclusive Ivanishvili for “undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation”.
Blinken said Ivanishvili had implemented “actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the United States or abroad” for Russia.
The sanctions, which freeze any US assets belonging to Ivanishvili, follow years of souring relations between the West and Georgia, a former Soviet republic now a candidate for European Union membership.