Georgian Parliament official slams sanctions call on Georgian TV channels as “circus”

Levan Machavariani, the first deputy chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the legislative body, on Tuesday dismissed recent claims about possible sanctions on several Georgian TV channels as “a circus” and “kindergarten-level”, arguing that such discussions are not credible and could ultimately damage the reputation of those promoting them.

Machavariani was responding to reports by opposition-leaning media alleging that three Members of the European Parliament are calling for sanctions against Georgian broadcasters Imedi TV, Rustavi 2, and POSTV.

In his remarks, Machavariani noted that opposition media misrepresented the issue as an official decision of the European Parliament, while in reality it reflected only the initiative of three individual MEPs from Poland.

He further criticised Poland’s stance, referencing its role in activating the so-called Moscow Mechanism and alleging bias in the selection of experts involved in that process.

“On the one hand, we saw disinformation spread by the radical opposition media claiming that this was supposedly a decision of the European Parliament. This is only an initiative of three members of the European Parliament, and they are from Poland. We know Poland’s position very well. When the Moscow Mechanism was activated, Poland was the driving force behind it”, he said.

“It turned out that the expert they hired was directly biased, as she works in their ministry of foreign affairs. This is an ordinary circus, a kindergarten - no one believes this, and the more deputies or countries speak about it, the more counterproductive it is for them, as they will completely destroy their reputation in the eyes of our citizens”, Machavariani concluded.