Georgia president overruled as lawmakers push forward with Russia-style 'foreign agents' law

• Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to override a presidential veto on the Russia-style "foreign agents" law.
• The U.S., European Union, NATO and the United Nations have all expressed concern about the bill, which opposition lawmakers have denounced as the "Russian law."
• The law calls for media outlets, nonprofits and other nongovernmental organizations in the country to declare that they're "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20% of their funding from sources abroad.

Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to override a presidential veto on a Russia-style "foreign agents" law, pushing forward with legislation that has triggered international condemnation and large-scale protests in the South Caucasus nation.

The U.S., European Union, NATO and the United Nations have all expressed concern about the bill, which critics say could jeopardize Georgia's chances of joining the EU and push the country back into Russia's orbit.

The foreign agents law calls for media outlets, nonprofits and other nongovernmental organizations in the country to declare that they are "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20% of their funding from sources abroad.

Russia, which occupies about 20% of Georgia's internationally recognized territory, has used similar legislation to crack down on independent news media and activists critical of the Kremlin.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the controversial legislation on May 18, saying on social media platform X that the "fundamentally Russian" law represents "an obstacle to our European path."

Zourabichvili, a critic of the ruling Georgian Dream government, has called for a repeal of the law.

The Georgian Dream party has insisted