Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Dream (GD) majority Parliament, has condemned a new UK grant programme which offers funding to Georgian NGOs working to safeguard democracy in the Caucasus country, Civil.ge reported.

In comments to reporters on April 6, the Speaker declared that the FCDO’s initiative was aimed at meddling in Georgia’s internal affairs as part of wider attempts to topple the GD government.

An announcement from the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on April 4 invited Georgian non-government organisations to bid for grants of up to GBP100,000 (€117,000) ahead of local elections in October 2025.

Funding is offered for projects that work to support the free and fair running of the local vote via effective monitoring on polling day, encourage wider voter participation, particularly in rural and ethnic minority areas and help the Georgian electorate make informed choices through voter information campaigns.

The FCDO brief noted that funding “could not be used for any kind of political messaging including promotion of any political party and/or criticism of a political party”.

“I have no doubt that this is grant is corrupt,” Papuashvili declared. “Everyone already knows who will receive the money”. According to the Speaker, these organisations are ISFED, Georgia’s main election watchdog and “similar millionaire organisations”.

Papuashvili warned of “hypocrisy and corruption” in the FCDO’s initiative, which he claimed is designed to “deceive” both the Georgian and British public via a guise of open competition.

Papuashvili claimed that the UK’s FCDO grant “serves exactly the same purpose as previous US financial assistance”: “to interfere in other countries, change governments and destabilise them”.

The Speaker has previously lashed out at American foreign assistance programmes, echoing criticism from Donald Trump and Elon Musk, accusing USAID of facilitating the “disruption” of the country’s 2020 and 2024 general elections by funnelling money into Georgian NGOs and watchdogs.

“The new American administration has exposed this harmful practice [of foreign assistance] and stopped interference in the internal affairs of other countries,” Papuashvili stated on April 6, but warned that a funding “vacuum” had since opened up in USAID’s place, which “other forces” – namely Britain and Europe – would attempt to fill.

Meanwhile, Teona Akubardia, of the For Georgia opposition party, stated that Papuashvili’s issues with the grant were less about the grant itself, but about “the [GD] regime’s fear of British sanctions”.

The UK Treasury recently imposed sanctions on two senior Georgian judges for “serious corruption” and close ties to the ruling party. This followed British sanctions on several senior Georgia officials, including the Interior Minister, Vakhtang Gomelauri, in December, for their role in ordering violent crackdowns on pro-EU protesters in Tbilisi.