🇺🇦 Ukraine was fined at Eurovision for the T-shirts worn by delegation members with the slogan
"Free Azovstal Defenders."

This was reported by the Ukrainian contestant.

Any prints with innoscriptions and branding are prohibited at Eurovision. All delegates were checked by security, but the Ukrainians hid the message under other clothing.

🔴 @DDGeopolitics

🇬🇪❓The infamous Georgian law on foreign agents: what is it about?

The official name of the bill introduced by the ruling party is “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence”, also known as the law on foreign agents.

Its main purpose is to make transparent the income of non-profit organizations and media that are funded from abroad. The law doesn't affect individuals.

❔What does it mean for those organizations in practice?

➡️legal entities whose sponsorship from foreign partners exceeds 20% of their total annual income will be required to provide reporting on their earnings.

➡️they will have to register their status of a foreign agent and annually submit a declaration of income.

➡️the maximum penalty for failure to comply is a fine of around $9.5 thousand.

The new law will not affect sports federations and the main administrative bodies of companies. Diplomats and officials of other countries also will not have to send reports.

A similar law exists in the United States, and is considered more strict due to the criminal liability incurred by a company that does not provide data on its financing.

💬Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the law has only one goal - to make public the financial statements of non-governmental organizations that receive millions of dollars from abroad and spend these funds “on subversive political activities.”

❔Why are so many people against it, and why has the law been dubbed "The Russian law"?

If you want our opinion - simply because Russia (just like many other countries) has a similar law, and, since it would inevitably reveal the influence that Western countries try to buy in Georgia, the main selling point is that "Georgia can't afford to become like autocratic Russia". Anyone with a shred of common sense can see that any organization that receives substantial Russian funding would have to report it too so it doesn't put Russia in a more favorable position than any Western country's.

🔴@DDGeopolitics