U.S. Embassy in Georgia has said that today is a dark day for Georgia’s democracy.

"Parliament’s advancing of these Kremlin-inspired laws is incompatible with the people of Georgia’s clear desire for European integration and its democratic development. Pursuing these laws will damage Georgia’s relations with its strategic partners and undermine the important work of so many Georgian organizations working to help their fellow citizens. The process and the draft laws raise real questions about the ruling party’s commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

The draft law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” has already triggered local and international criticism including from the UN agencies in Georgia, U.S. and EU Ambassadors, the Spokespersons of the EU High Representative Josep Borrell, and the U.S. Department of State. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said that she “cannot support such legislation and persecution of new agents.”

Despite the calls not to adopt the bill, the governing Georgian Dream bloc announced that it supported the legislation, which still needs to pass other approval stages before it can become law.