Biden administration sanctioned Georgia's Ivanishvili while simultaneously licensing his corporate network
On December 27, 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Bidzina Ivanishvili — the founder of Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party — under Executive Order 14024, the sanctions architecture built for the Russian Federation, on the basis that he acted on behalf of and for the benefit of Russia. On the same day, Treasury also issued General License 116, which authorizes U.S. persons to continue most transactions with companies Ivanishvili owns or controls, provided those companies are not themselves on the sanctions list. The MEGOBARI Act, which passed the House 349-42, and a second bill requiring a classified assessment of Russian and Chinese penetration of the Georgian state have both cleared the House but have not received a Senate floor vote.
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On December 27, 2024, the Biden administration's Treasury Department sanctioned Bidzina Ivanishvili, the de facto political power behind Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party, under the same executive order used to target actors working on behalf of Russia. The U.S. government's own assessment held that Ivanishvili had acted for the benefit of the Russian Federation while shaping Georgia's political direction.
What drew less attention that same day was General License 116, issued alongside the sanctions. According to the Washington Examiner's op-ed by former Georgian security and parliament official Emzari Gelashvili, the license permits U.S. persons to continue most business transactions with companies Ivanishvili owns or controls — as long as those companies are not themselves designated. In practice, the individual is frozen while the corporate network around him remains largely open for American business.
Gelashvili, drawing on his own experience in Georgia's security services and parliament, framed this dual action as part of a longer pattern: Western governments name a problem and then preserve the conditions that allow the problem to persist. He pointed to Georgian Dream's adoption of a Russian-style foreign agents law, the government's turn of police on demonstrators, and its November 2024 suspension of the EU accession process — a process that Georgia's own constitution requires it to pursue.