U.S. President Donald Trump has extended for another year the national emergency declared by Joe Biden.
Joe Biden declared the national emergency related to the harmful foreign activities of the Russian Federation in April 2021.
It was under this executive order addressing the Russian Federation’s harmful foreign actions that, on December 27, 2024, the United States sanctioned oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream party, widely seen as informal ruler of Georgia.
Sanctioning an individual under this order means that the person is accused of directly or indirectly undermining democratic processes in the United States or other countries in favor of the Russian Federation.
Financial sanctions mean that all of Ivanishvili’s assets within U.S. jurisdiction, or controlled by U.S. persons, are frozen. It also includes transaction ban, risk of secondary sanctions, visa and travel restrictions.
“Specified harmful foreign activities of the Government of the Russian Federation—in particular, efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and democratic institutions in the United States and its allies and partners; to engage in and facilitate malicious cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies and partners; to foster and use transnational corruption to influence foreign governments; to pursue extraterritorial activities targeting dissidents or journalists; to undermine security in countries and regions important to United States national security; and to violate well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states—continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.
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Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14024,” the document sent by Donald Trump to Congress states.
