Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev missed the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg due to a busy work schedule. Aliyev's administration also noted that his absence from the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on December 21 was due to Azerbaijan not being a member of the organization.
The Georgian parliament passed the law on foreign agents in the third reading by a majority vote. He was supported by 84 deputies from the ruling Georgian Dream party and their allies, 30 opposition members voted against.
The Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence provides for registration in a separate register of non-profit legal entities and media outlets, more than 20% of whose income is received from abroad. Earlier, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said she would veto this decision, but parliament can override the presidential veto with a majority vote.
After the law was passed, protesters outside parliament in Tbilisi began chanting “traitors” and “Russians.”
President of the Council of Europe Charles Michel said he was disappointed with what was happening in Georgia. "Why? Because I had the opportunity to play my part and help unlock this political system. Secondly, a few months ago there was no majority to grant Georgia candidate status in the Council of Europe, but together several European leaders became convinced that, for many reasons, granting Georgia candidate status was the right decision. And we worked hard, including with Georgian officials, to persuade several reforms that were absolutely necessary. I hope the Georgian government will shed light on its intentions, but if it wants to join the EU, it must respect the fundamental principles of the rule of law and democracy,” he concluded.