Georgian leadership anticipates diplomatic reset with new US administration

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has expressed optimism that the administration of US President Donald Trump will reassess Washington's stance toward Georgia, including sanctions imposed by the previous US government.

Kobakhidze voiced his expectations during a briefing with local journalists, noting that Tbilisi anticipates a significant shift in American foreign policy now that the Trump administration has returned to office, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

“I think that the approaches taken by the previous [US] administration will be radically revised, including the sanctions policy. That is our assumption,” the prime minister stated.

His remarks come amid strained bilateral relations between Georgia and the United States. On November 30, 2024, the US State Department officially announced the suspension of its strategic partnership with Georgia. The move followed the Georgian government’s decision, announced two days earlier, to remove the issue of European Union accession negotiations from its political agenda until at least the end of 2028.

In the same announcement, the ruling Georgian Dream–Democratic Georgia party also declared its intention to reject all budgetary grants provided by EU institutions. The decisions triggered widespread criticism from Western allies and prompted a significant recalibration in US-Georgia relations.

Last December, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri and Deputy Head of the Special Tasks Department Mirza Kezevadze for their involvement in severe crackdowns on journalists, opposition figures, and protesters, including during the demonstrations throughout 2024.
Both officials have been designated under the Global Magnitsky Act, extending the punitive measures initiated on September 16, 2024, when two other senior officials from the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs were sanctioned. Those earlier targeted included Zviad Kharazishvili, Head of the Special Tasks Department, and his deputy, Mileri Lagazauri.

By Vafa Guliyeva