MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. The recent events in Georgia are very reminiscent of Kiev’s "maidan." The situation involving the bill on foreign agents was just an excuse for an attempt to change power by force, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Great Game program on TV Channel One.
"It is very similar to Kiev’s ‘maidan’. There is no doubt that the bill on the registration of those non-governmental organizations which receive foreign funding equivalent to merely 20% of their budget was just an excuse to start an attempt to change power by force," he said.
According to Lavrov, the bill itself "pales into insignificance next to how the activities of non-profit organizations are regulated in the United States, France, India, and Israel."
"Besides, for violation of a similar law in the United States there is a fine of up to $250,000 and a prison term of up to 5 years," Lavrov said.
He also drew attention to what the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said about the events in Georgia, calling his statements hypocritical.
"Nevertheless, despite the fact that in a number of European countries the same rules, much more strict rules in the same field exist, Mr. Borrell, without batting an eyelid, stated that the law that the Georgian Dream party was advocating contradicted European values and put a roadblock in the way of Georgia's accession to the European Union. In general, this hypocrisy is obvious," Lavrov said.
"The government, the ruling coalition, the ruling party finally announced that they were revoking this bill completely, as I heard, and that they were releasing about 170 arrested instigators of the riots, despite the fact that there is video evidence of the violence they committed and, which, of course, is a violation of any democratic norms and deserves to be prosecuted," he added. "Now, without any pause the opposition has said: ‘No, you met us halfway only on the first issue. Now you must resign." And, as you understand, the position of the West, the very same Department of State, which in a pathetic tone declares the inadmissibility of such an attitude towards civil society, just causes a smile. These are the very rules that the West is talking about. We are talking about international law, and the West is talking about some rules on which the world order should be based.".