WASHINGTON DC – The already strained US-Georgia relationship has taken a sharp and troubling turn this week, prompting a bipartisan outcry from Capitol Hill aimed squarely at Georgian Dream’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and his party.
In a blistering letter sent Wednesday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a coalition of senior lawmakers – led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and joined by Republicans Roger Wicker (R-MS.) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) and others – urged the Trump administration to take immediate action to defend former local employees of US government agencies, especially former USAID staff.
Pension payments cast as “coup” cash
At the heart of the lawmakers’ outrage is what they describe as the Georgian government’s deliberate distortion of routine severance payments to former local USAID staff.
Georgian Dream officials – including Mamuka Mdinaradze, head of the State Security Service – recently accused Washington of trying to “foment revolution” by issuing “payments” to former Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs).
“On Oct. 1, media reported that Head of the State Security Service of Georgia Mamuka Mdinaradze accused the US government of fomenting revolution by providing ‘payments’ to FSNs – which were actually termination (pension) payments required by Georgian law following the end of US personnel employment,” the letter states.
Lawmakers warn that this intentional mischaracterization is more than a diplomatic insult – it’s a direct threat. By feeding anti-American narratives, they argue, Georgian Dream is putting former local staff in harm’s way.
Partnership in crisis
The bipartisan pressure comes as Washington’s relationship with Tbilisi sinks to its lowest point in decades. Despite repeated pledges from Georgian Dream leaders to “rebuild” the partnership, lawmakers say the government’s actions tell a different story.
“Georgian authorities, led by Georgian Dream, have repeatedly proclaimed a desire to rebuild the bilateral relationship with the US, but their continued actions and statements indicate otherwise,” the lawmakers wrote.
For Congress, targeting former local employees is a red line. The signatories urged Secretary Rubio to demand assurances that ex-US government personnel “will not be maligned or targeted” by Georgian authorities.
Dangerous global signal
Beyond the immediate risk to individuals in Georgia, lawmakers warned the episode sets a dangerous precedent worldwide.
US foreign policy depends on thousands of FSNs – local employees who make diplomacy and aid operations possible. Failing to defend them, the letter cautions, could embolden other governments to follow suit.
“If we do not defend personnel from attacks by a foreign government, it will limit our ability to recruit staff and carry out US policy around the world,” the lawmakers wrote, urging the State Department to “push back vigorously” against such targeting “wherever it may arise.”
The letter acknowledges a modest step by the State Department – a request for a meeting with the Georgian ambassador on Oct. 6 – but calls for stronger follow-up: a formal and public retraction by Georgian Dream of the inflammatory claims.
As Washington weighs how to balance strategic interests in the South Caucasus with growing concerns over democratic backsliding and anti-US rhetoric in Tbilisi, the bipartisan letter represents a clear warning: attacks on America’s local partners, even former ones, will not go unanswered.