Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s most influential figure and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, declined a meeting in Tbilisi with Robin Dunnigan, the US ambassador to the Caucasus country, who sought to deliver a message from the Trump administration concerning Georgia’s deteriorating relations with the US.

On May 28 the US embassy in Tbilisi officially announced that Ivanishvili had “refused” to see the ambassador, after Dunnigan asked for a meeting on May 22 at US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s direct request.

According to the embassy, the purpose of the meeting was to “communicate a message from the Trump Administration and to again relay specific steps the Georgian government can take to show it is serious about resetting its relationship with the US”.

US-Georgia relations soured in late 2024 after the former froze its Strategic Partnership with Georgia in response to the GD authorities’ use of violence to disperse pro-EU, anti-government protests in Tbilisi, which erupted after the party suspended EU accession negotiations on November 28.

GD have been very vocal about its readiness to reset relations. In a recent open letter to US President Donald Trump, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze lamented the lack of high-level communication between the two countries’ governments and pushed for a relations reset from a “clean slate”.

As bne IntelliNews reported, Marco Rubio has since referred to the incumbent GD government as “anti-American” and announced that bilateral relations were “under review”.

“We hope the Georgian government sincerely wishes to return to 33 years of partnership and friendship with America and the American people,” the US embassy’s May 28 statement concluded.

Following a meeting with visiting US senator Steve Daines in Tbilisi on May 30, Kobakhidze noted that he had “reaffirmed” the GD government’s readiness to “reset and renew the Strategic Partnership with the US based on a clear and effective roadmap that will being real benefits to both countries”, as reported by Interpressnews.

Ivanishvili, who was sanctioned by the US in December 2024 for allegedly undermining Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future for the benefit of Russia, responded to the embassy’s statement with an open letter on May 29 explaining why he refused the meeting.

While the GD honorary chair reiterated his and his party’s readiness to reset Georgia-America relations, he stated that as long as what he described as “extremely severe” US sanctions are in place against him – conditions he equates to “personal blackmail” – it would be wrong for him to meet with the ambassador and discuss state affairs, seeing as his own “complexes” and interests were involved.

According to opposition leader Giorgi Vashadze, Ivanishvili’s refusal to meet Dunnigan constitutes “a refusal of the Strategic Partnership and friendship with America” and a rejection of the opportunity to restore Georgia’s western course.

Ivanishvili further noted that Dunnigan had refused his suggestion she hold a meeting with Kobakhidze instead.

Following the US embassy’s announcement that Ivanishvili had declined the ambassador’s invitation, several GD MPs, including leader of the GD parliamentary majority, Mamuka Mdinaradze, noted that Dunnigan would do better to request meetings with any active GD party member, rather than engaging “behind the scenes”, as reported by JamNews.