The United States said on Thursday it had banned several dozen Georgians from visiting the United States for their roles in ramming through a law against foreign influence seen as inspired by Russia.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken had announced last month that the United States was reviewing relations with the former Soviet republic and was setting a new policy restricting visas in response to the law.
On Thursday, the State Department said it was implementing the law by barring a 鈥榝ew dozen鈥� people including members of the ruling Georgian Dream party, members of parliament and law enforcement, as well as their immediate family members.
鈥業t remains our hope that Georgia鈥檚 leaders will reconsider their actions and take steps to move forward with their nation鈥檚 long-stated democratic and Euro-Atlantic aspirations,鈥� State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
鈥楤ut if they do not, the United States is prepared to take additional actions,鈥� he warned.
He did not name the individuals, citing US laws guaranteeing the privacy of visa records.
But he said they included Georgians who disseminated disinformation, attacked peaceful protesters or intimidated civil society.
The new Georgian law requires NGOs and media outlets that receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as bodies 鈥榩ursuing the interests of a foreign power.鈥�
Lawmakers pushed through the law and overrode a veto by pro-Western president Salome Zurabishvili despite mass protests by Georgians who fear the move will push their country back into Moscow鈥檚 orbit.