Sanctions come amid mass protests against the Georgian government’s decision to pause EU accession efforts.

The United States has sanctioned Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s former prime minister and founder of the governing Georgian Dream party, amid protests against a pause in European Union accession efforts.

In a statement on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Ivanishvili and his party had undermined democratic institutions and “derailed Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future” to the benefit of Russia.

“Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream’s actions have eroded democratic institutions, enabled human rights abuses, and curbed the exercise of fundamental freedoms in Georgia,” Blinken said.

Georgian Dream and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced last month that they would suspend talks on Georgia’s entry into the EU until 2028.

The announcement followed a resolution by the European Parliament that had refused to recognise the results of Georgia’s October 26 elections based on allegations of “significant irregularities”, which Kobakhidze called an act of “blackmail”.

The goal of joining the EU was added to Georgia’s constitution in 2017, and protesters took to the streets in opposition to the suspension of membership efforts.

While Kobakhidze has said that Georgia will still pursue EU membership with the goal of joining by 2030, the protests have continued in opposition to steps taken by the governing party that critics say target civil society groups and press freedom.

The government has responded to the widespread demonstrations with a harsh police crackdown.

Police also have raided opposition party offices, and the prime minister has dismissed calls for a new election.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said earlier this week that Georgian police had responded to largely peaceful protests in the capital of Tbilisi with “brutal violence”.

“In widespread and apparently punitive acts, security forces have chased down, violently detained, and beat protesters,” the rights group said in a statement on December 24.

“Police also tortured and otherwise ill-treated them in police vans and police stations.”

The EU has also condemned the crackdown, stating that the bloc “stands with the Georgian people and their choice for a European future”.

On December 18, the US sanctioned several senior Georgian Interior Ministry officials who it accused of complicity in the crackdown on protesters.

Meanwhile, Friday’s sanctions freeze Ivanishvili’s assets in the US.

Ivanishvili and his allies in government have repeatedly said in recent years that the billionaire was already under “de facto sanctions” by the US, something Washington had denied.

Georgian Dream did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency on the new sanctions.