[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 185 (Thursday, December 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6987-S6988]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Georgia

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am here on the floor today with the 
incoming chair and current ranking member of the Foreign Relations 
Committee to talk about the deteriorating political situation in the 
country of Georgia and to strongly urge the United States Government to 
take immediate action in response.
  Senator Risch and I have had a long history of working together on 
Georgia. We were there in 2012 when Georgian Dream took over in 
Georgia. We were part of the election observation team. We agreed those 
were free and fair elections.
  Senator Risch was very eloquent in talking to President Saakashvili 
at the time--or Prime Minister--about the need to hand over power 
because it was a free and fair election, and we needed to do that.
  Well, in October, Georgia held parliamentary elections, and the vote 
took place against a backdrop of threats--in some cases, even violence. 
And there is evidence that the ruling party, Georgian Dream, 
specifically targeted activists, opposition figures, and ordinary 
voters. Consequently, those elections, unlike the elections in 2012 
that we observed, have not been deemed free and fair. And the majority 
of the Georgian people, understandably so, do not support the election 
results.
  In the aftermath, the Georgian Dream government decided to yank 
Georgia off of its Euro-Atlantic path. It announced the country would 
cease negotiating with the European Union over its succession to the 
bloc. Of course, it is a move that pleased Vladimir Putin and the 
Kremlin and reinforced to many his influence over the politics and 
policy of Georgia.
  This step directly contravened Georgia's own constitution, where the 
Georgian people enshrined their commitment to joining both the EU and 
NATO. It has rightfully caused outrage across the country.
  For 2 weeks, we have seen widespread protests that brought thousands 
of people into the streets. The protests are being led by young 
people--young people who have grown up in an independent Georgia, in a 
country that was looking toward a better, more democratic future.
  In an attempt to control those peaceful protesters, the government 
has responded with brutal force. And over the last 2 weeks, we have 
seen Georgian Dream target opposition politicians, media and protest 
organizers, not only using force in an attempt to disperse crowds, but 
rounding up individuals at their homes, beating them, and detaining 
them.
  That is not what a democracy does.
  The President of Georgia President Zourabichvili has stood in 
solidarity with the protesters. She urged the government to stop its 
campaign of violence against its own people. But now in a very 
concerning turn, Georgian Dream intends to appoint a new President this 
weekend by holding a vote in Parliament where only its members are 
participating.
  A new President and Commander in Chief--one who stands with Georgian 
Dream and supports the Kremlin--could dramatically escalate an already 
volatile situation. As we think about why this is important to the 
United States, since 1992, the U.S.-Georgia partnership has been based 
on shared democratic values. We partnered with the Georgian people, 
successive Georgian Governments to build democratic institutions, a 
professional civilian-controlled military, and a vibrant civil society 
capable of cementing the country's trans-Atlantic future.
  Georgia is an EU candidate country. It has been, until recently, a 
close, reliable partner for NATO and the United States. Georgia joined 
the United States-led coalition in the Iraq war in 2003 and Georgian 
soldiers deployed to Afghanistan in 2004.
  This is a country and a people who have stood by the United States, 
and it is time now for us to stand by them.
  That is why it is so distressing to see what is happening in the 
country and why we need to see action from our government to condemn 
what is going on there. The leadership of Georgian Dream is a political 
party that was founded in 2012 by a billionaire who made his money in 
Russia and who has drawn increasingly from the Kremlin's playbook in 
the recent months. They have adopted laws and policies aimed at 
constraining civil society's ability to operate, including a foreign 
agents law that is meant to vilify civic activists as dangerous outside 
agents.
  So what are we doing as the United States? How are we supporting the 
Georgian people? Well, I am very frustrated because, in my view, we are 
not doing enough. We are failing to meet this moment and answer this 
call. We have failed to respond in a meaningful way that would help 
change the calculus of Georgian Dream's leadership. They are paying no 
price for their actions, as they defy the will of the people and take 
pages from Putin's authoritarian playbook.
  There are well-documented human rights violations, but the Treasury 
Department has failed to sanction a single official for their actions. 
It is perplexing. I don't understand it, and I urge the administration 
to act immediately. Georgia's future is in jeopardy, and the Georgian 
people, who have repeatedly supported us, deserve our support. Treasury 
has all the authorities it needs under the Global Magnitsky Act and 
other sanction legislations to hold officials to account for the brutal 
human rights violations they are currently committing against Georgian 
citizens.
  This is not a hard call. The next 2 weeks are critical for Georgia. 
The administration has bipartisan, bicameral support to act. I urge the 
U.S. administration to stand with the Georgian people and their fight 
for a democratic future.
  I yield to my colleague from Idaho.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. RISCH. First of all, let me say, I want to fully associate myself 
with the remarks of my colleague from New Hampshire. She said it about 
as well as it can be said, but I am going to underscore it and go back.
  As she said, in 2012, she and I were the appointed representatives of 
the United States to look at and monitor the elections in Georgia, and, 
I have to tell you, it was an interesting process to do that. We looked 
and watched the election. From our point of view, it was a straight-up 
election. It was well done, well executed. And, at the end of the day, 
the incumbent, President Saakashvili lost; Mr. Ivanishvili's Dream 
party won.
  We had the interesting experience, the next morning, going to see 
both camps, and one of the things that gave me great hope is it was 
very much like an American election. Both camps were still in campaign 
mode when we talked to them, but, as Senator Shaheen indicated, we had 
very candid discussions with both sides. Frankly, before we left the 
region--I think we went to Turkey after that. But before we left the 
region, they had made agreements that they were going to talk about a 
peaceful transition. That was a really, really good sign.
  I have to tell you, we left there really quite optimistic that things 
were headed in the right direction--that here

[[Page S6988]]

they had an election that was a spirited election, but it came out the 
way the people of Georgia wanted it to come out and that things would 
go forward.
  It wasn't too long after that that we started to have suspicions that 
it wasn't going as well as it should. And, indeed, that was the case, 
and it continued to deteriorate and continues to deteriorate today to 
where it is of an urgent nature.
  Look, this country is a country that, after Ronald Reagan brought 
down the Soviet Union and all these countries got their freedom--most 
of them took it--this is one of those countries that has not been able 
to get complete footing and get the complete shake-off of Russia that 
it wants.
  The ghosts of the Russian Empire still are there in that country, and 
they are showing up in what is happening today. The tactics that are 
being used by the government that is in place today are the tactics 
that they use in Russia. It is brutal. It involves tortures. It 
involves arrests. It involves all of the things that we see from the 
old Soviet Union.
  This is not what the Georgian people want. You say: Well, how can you 
say that? The Georgian Constitution actually has enshrined in it that 
they will pursue--and they have been pursuing--membership in the 
European Union. When that happens, of course, things change 
dramatically in the country. They go much more to Western values than 
what they inherited from the old Soviet Union, and that is the 
direction that Georgia's people want to go.
  And, again, not only is it in the Constitution, the polling there 
says that 80 percent of people want to continue to pursue both European 
Union membership and NATO membership.
  So what has the current government done about the Georgian Dream? 
Well, they have done the things that the Senator from New Hampshire has 
laid out. They have done awful things that resulted in arrests and 
torture and the kinds of things that autocratic governments do in order 
to get their way.
  The Georgian people have not stood by passively and let this happen. 
There have been lots of protests in the country over recent weeks. 
Indeed, some of them are quite violent because the Georgian Dream party 
is cracking down on these people who are just simply trying to pursue 
their dreams for Georgia, both as expressed in the Constitution and 
expressed by the will of the people. We had an opportunity to talk to 
the President of Georgia just recently and came away again disappointed 
with the way things are happening.
  But, look, there is hope here. We passed a bill that gives the Biden 
administration the ability to go in and levy sanctions on the people 
that should be sanctioned.
  And it is not a secret. We know who they are. They know who they are. 
The State Department knows who they are. The Biden administration knows 
who they are. So let's get at it.
  And just as my colleague from New Hampshire, I am deeply, deeply 
disappointed that we haven't done that. Look, putting sanctions on is 
not a strain on this country. It is easy to do. But it can be and will 
be a real strain on the people who were sanctioned.
  We really need to do that, and like my friend from New Hampshire, I 
don't understand why it is not being done. Is it incompetence? Is it 
laziness? Is it that they don't know better? We have all talked to 
them, but it just doesn't get done.
  So, again, I want to join in with my friend from New Hampshire and 
urge the administration to step in and do what should be done, follow 
the law that we have put in place, and take the opportunities for 
sanctions that we have put in place.
  I want to continue to be hopeful for the Georgian people. They don't 
want what is going on there. They don't want to drift back to the 
Soviet Union or to Russia. They want to look westward, by their 
Constitution, by their own will. They want to be part of the European 
Union and part of NATO.
  Let's give them every help that we can possibly do, and it won't cost 
us anything.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.