Georgia's billionaire power broker snubs US ambassador
The billionaire chief of Georgia's ruling party -- widely seen as the Caucasus country's most powerful figure -- has refused to meet the US ambassador, the American embassy said Wednesday.
The diplomatic snub comes as ties between Washington and Tbilisi have sunk to their lowest level in years, with the United States repeatedly condemning Georgia's democratic backsliding, its violent crackdown on protestors and its move to halt EU integration.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest person and key power broker, is among those hit with US sanctions and visa restrictions put in place under ex-President Joe Biden.
"Bidzina Ivanishvili has refused to meet with Ambassador (Robin) Dunnigan to hear a message from the Trump Administration," the US embassy said in a statement.
Officials from his ruling Georgian Dream party have dismissed Washington's sanctions pressure as blackmail.
The embassy said the meeting had been requested by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, so that the US envoy could "again relay specific steps the Georgian government can take to show it is serious about resetting its relationship with the United States."
"It is our hope that the Georgian government sincerely wishes to return to 33 years of partnership and friendship with America and the American people," it added.
Critics accuse the Georgian Dream party of moving Tbilisi away from the West and closer to Russia, with whom Georgia fought a brief war in 2008 for control of separatist territories.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday accused Washington of being controlled by the "deep state", echoing language frequently employed by President Donald Trump.
"We want relations with a United States that is free from the deep state -- a relationship with an independent, sovereign country -- and that is what we are waiting for," Kobakhidze said.
Georgia has been rocked by protests since Georgian Dream shelved talks on joining the European Union shortly after disputed parliamentary elections last October.
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