The US Treasury imposed sanctions against the founder of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The US Treasury Department announced on December 27 that it had imposed sanctions against the founder of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Meduza reports.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that sanctions against Ivanishvili were imposed “for undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia in the interests of the Russian Federation.” The actions of Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream have undermined democratic institutions, contributed to human rights violations, and limited the exercise of fundamental freedoms in Georgia. Moreover, they derailed Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future.

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze, commenting on the US decision, said that the sanctions were imposed because “Ivanishvili protects the national interests of Georgia.”

The Baltic countries in early December banned Ivanishvili from entering Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia after protests against the suspension of the country’s integration with the European Union began to be dispersed in Georgia. In December, the Ukrainian authorities also imposed sanctions against Ivanishvili.