Baltic countries to sanction Georgian officials over crackdown on pro-E.U. protests

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will impose sanctions against the Georgian officials responsible for suppressing pro-E.U. protests in recent days, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna announced on Sunday.

“The three Baltic States jointly agreed to impose national sanctions against those who suppressed legitimate protests in Georgia,” Tsahkna wrote on X. “Opponents of democracy & violators of human rights are not welcome in our countries.”

Thousands of Georgian citizens began protesting late last week after Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the government would suspend E.U. membership talks until the end of 2028. Demonstrators have been gathering daily outside of the national parliament building in Tbilisi as well as in other cities. Police have deployed water cannons and tear gas in an effort to disperse the protesters and have arrested dozens of people.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who supports the protesters, said on Saturday that she remains the “only independent, legitimate institute” in the country and will not leave her post when her term expires in December. “My mandate continues until there is a legitimately elected parliament that will legitimately elect someone to replace me,” she said in a televised speech.

Prime Minister Kobakhidze, meanwhile, called the protests an “attack on the country’s constitutional order” and accused European politicians and a “fifth column” of orchestrating the unrest.

On December 1, the U.S. government announced it was suspending its strategic partnership with Georgia amid the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to halt the E.U. accession talks.