TBILISI. Sept 17 (Interfax) - Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze regrets that the United States imposed sanctions on four Georgian citizens and described Washington's move as "an unfounded and highly regretful event."
The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on two senior officers of the Georgian Interior Ministry and two opposition politicians criticizing Western influence on Georgia on Monday. The sanctions were imposed in particular for "for their involvement in human rights abuses."
Sanctions on police officers are completely unacceptable to the Georgian authorities, Kobakhidze said. "These are the police officers who have twice prevented a revolution here in recent years," he said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
U.S. sanctions can be explained in terms of the parliamentary elections due to take place in Georgia in October, Kobakhidze said. "Perhaps, these U.S. steps are related to our election campaign," he said.
"We have extended a hand to our partners, although a lot of things have deteriorated in Georgian-U.S. relations in the past four years. We said we were completely open to a dialogue on any topics, but received no response," Kobakhidze said.