British ambassador summoned to Georgian Foreign Ministry after imposing sanctions against the head of the republic's Interior Ministry

The Georgian Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador to Tbilisi Gareth Ward after the United Kingdom imposed sanctions against the head of the republic's Interior Ministry Vakhtang Gomelauri. This was reported by the First Channel of Georgian television on December 20.

"A meeting with the British Ambassador to Georgia Gareth Ward is taking place at the Georgian Foreign Ministry. Before entering the Foreign Ministry, the ambassador did not give any comments to media representatives," the TV channel said in its publication.

The fact that the UK imposed sanctions on the head of the Interior Ministry, as well as four other high-ranking officials, became known the day before, when the website of the UK government published a statement to this effect. As noted in the publication, the sanctioned officials are responsible for serious human rights violations during the protests.

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There are protests in Georgia because of the suspension of negotiations on European integration and opposition disagreement with the results of parliamentary elections. On December 1, protesters tried to set fire to the building of the Georgian parliament and damaged dozens of offices, and law enforcement agencies had to use tear gas.

Against this background, the US State Department suspended its partnership with the Georgian side and announced its readiness to impose new sanctions. The French Foreign Ministry accused the Georgian authorities of "repression", Latvia banned entry of 13 citizens of the country, and Ukraine imposed sanctions against 19 Georgian politicians.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that European politicians threatened the country with a Maidan, but another attempt to organize a revolution failed. He also noted that the issue of EU accession was being used to blackmail Tbilisi.