U.S. Insists On Full Probe Into Election Irregularities In Georgia, Both By Authorities And Independently

The U.S. State Dept on Wednesday refrained from commenting on Georgian officials' interpretation of President Joe Biden's latest statement about the country, making it clear that the U.S. leader's calls on Tbilisi authorities to investigate election irregularities speaks for itself, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The move came as several "Georgian Dream" officials, including Executive Secretary Mamuka Mdinaradze, were quoted as saying that they viewed the White House statement as a "recognition, legitimizing the recent Georgian parliamentary elections"

"The statement from the President meant exactly what the statement from the President meant, and nothing else... He called for an investigation by Georgian authorities. We’ve also made clear that we’re consulting with our colleagues in the European Union about what other investigations may be appropriate," State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.

Earlier on Wednesday, Georgian state prosecutors announced launching an investigation and summoned President Salome Zourabichvili to testify on hey information about irregularities.

Miller told TURAN's correspondent that he hopes President Zourabichvili's information "would be relevant to any investigation, whether it’s conducted by Georgian authorities or anyone else."

When asked if U.S. was considering other option, the spokesperson said: We have made clear that our relationship with the Government of Georgia continues under review.  We have already suspended $95 million in assistance to the Government of Georgia and other assistance that we provide remains under review."

TURAN also asked Miller about the Georgian government's latest intimidation campaign targeting civil society members, namely two employees of the Atlantic Council, whose bank accounts recently got frozen.

"I’m not going to comment on those specific cases, but obviously we want to see people’s fundamental freedoms upheld.  We want to see their freedom to protest, their freedom to exercise their fundamental right to expression not infringed upon in any way," the spokesperson said.