"We Stand With People Of Georgia," U.S. Says, As Thousands Protest 'Stolen Election' In Tbilisi

The United States said Monday that it had made clear that it supports the people of Georgia and their hopes of joining the EU, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"Of course we stand with the people of Georgia," State Department's Spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions about the latest demonstrations in Tbilisi as thousands took to the street Monday night to demand new elections, a week after the Kremlin-backed Georgian Dream declared itself the winner amid allegations of vote-rigging.

Opposition leaders called for continuous waves of protest and civil resistance until the new elections are called. A new protest is planned for today.

When asked by TURAN for elaboration on U.S. support to Georgian people, Miller reminded that Washington responded to the GD government’s passage of a controversial "foreign influence" law by suspending $95 million of the assistance and by putting other assistance under review.

"We will continue to look at whether there are additional measures that are appropriate and if so, we won’t hesitate to use them," the spokesperson said.

As for potential sanctions against GD leaders including its founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, Miller said, "I don’t have any announcements to make about what additional sanctions activities we might take."

Georgian opposition and the country's pro-European president, Salome Zurabishvili, refused to recognize the validity of the latest election results, alleging massive fraud and Russian interference.

Two American polling firms have also said last week that the official election results suggest manipulation because they diverged so sharply in favor of GD from exit polls the companies conducted for pro-opposition outlets.