Georgia now stands on the verge of becoming an unstable, one-party regime - United States needs to encourage a resolution to the crisis and exercise its outsized influence—including by signaling the possibility of sanctions for those responsible for setting the country on the brink, - write Former US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly and former senior State Department official David Kramer in a joint letter published on The Bulwark.

"Long seen as an island of parliamentary democracy amidst a sea of authoritarianism, Georgia now stands on the verge of becoming an unstable, one-party regime.

The EU’s noble, but so far unsuccessful efforts to mediate the situation need reinforcement from the United States. The U.S. has a strong stake in seeing Georgia fulfil its sovereign choice to join the West and serve as a stable democracy on a critical east-west trade and energy corridor. While the Biden administration faces a vast array of domestic and foreign policy challenges, the United States needs to encourage a resolution to the crisis and exercise its outsized influence—including by signaling the possibility of sanctions for those responsible for setting the country on the brink.

The only ones profiting from instability and chaos in Georgia are sitting in the Kremlin. That realization alone should be a wake-up call to all in Georgia, and to Georgia’s friends in the West, that Melia should be released immediately, after which all parties should work in good faith toward compromise on multi-party representation in the parliament. The United States can play a key role in facilitating that, but it needs to move quickly", - read the extracts from the joint letter.