Georgian President slams UK sanctions on Imedi TV, POSTV as “unimaginable absurdity”

Georgian president Mikheil Kavelashvili on Sunday hit back at the British government's decision to impose sanctions on Georgian broadcasters Imedi TV and POSTV, labeling the move “unimaginable absurdity”.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Kavelashvili stressed that Imedi TV is the most highly rated television channel in Georgia, and the majority of Georgian citizens choose it as their preferred source of information.

“I tried to keep a smile off my face regarding this question, but I couldn’t, because it truly is an unimaginable absurdity that these two television channels are supposedly influencing events in Ukraine, and the British government is sanctioning our TV stations here in Georgia. It is impossible to give a serious response specifically to this fact, but if we connect this fact with others, we have talked about how these are messages directed by a single force - a mechanism of punishment”, Kavelashvili said

“There is no difference, for example, between not granting candidate status and punishing and sanctioning Imedi TV and POSTV or sanctioning Bidzina Ivanishvili and our high-ranking officials, or the fabricated committee issue, or the resolutions, or the reports broadcast by the BBC, CNN, and many other media outlets claiming that we are killing former president Mikheil Saakashvili, that we are torturing him, and so on. This is the same narrative - it is one network. Nevertheless, we treat Britain with responsibility and respect, but we must certainly give an appropriate response and state that such an act is unacceptable”, he concluded.