Wilson and Cohen Introduce the ‘Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act’

Washington, DC – U.S. Helsinki Chairman Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Ranking Member Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced the Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act today. The bill (HR-243) will prohibit the United States from recognizing the Ivanishvili regime and recognize President Salome Zourabichvili as the legitimate President of Georgia until such a time as free and fair elections are held in the country of Georgia.

     “The United States Congress has a long tradition of not recognizing illegitimate regimes. We do not, and never have, recognized the Russian occupation of Ukrainian Crimea or Georgian South Ossetia and Abkhazia. We never recognized the Soviet occupation of the Baltic republics and today they are free and independent. Similarly, my Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act ensured the United States would never recognize the murderous Assad regime. Now, Assad and his cronies are also gone. We will pursue the same policy with the Ivanishvili regime. Thanks to the strength of the freedom-loving Georgian people, I am positive that this regime will be gone soon too, and Georgia will have free and fair elections,” said Chairman Wilson.

     “The Georgian Dream has become the Georgian Nightmare. Despite an auspicious start, sanctioned oligarch Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party has now become a tool of Putin. They falsified the October election and illegally picked a pliable president. The United States cannot and will not recognize this illegitimate government. The Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act will ensure that the United States does not. Until it agrees to free and fair elections, the Ivanishvili regime must remain fully isolated by all democratic governments,” said Ranking Member Cohen.

     See the bill here. 

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