U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, John Bass, urged the Georgian government to resolve the question of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s citizenship “fairly and expeditiously”.

“As a matter of principle, the United States believes that citizenship laws should be adjudicated and applied in a way that reinforces the underlying principle of equality before the law and in this particular instance we urge the government of Georgia to resolve the ongoing question of Mr. Ivanishvili’s citizenship fairly and expeditiously,” Bass told journalists on April 5, when asked about the Civil Registry Agency’s decision on Ivanishvili’s citizenship application.

The Civil Registry Agency of the Ministry of Justice said on April 4, that Ivanishvili was not eligible to obtain Georgian citizenship through naturalization process, which he was requesting since January 5; the agency said, Ivanishvili, as a French national, should instead seek regaining his Georgian passport through dual-citizenship process.

Condemning the decision as “feeble” and “senseless”, Ivanishvili said on April 5 that he was still confident that he would regain his Georgian passport and would be able to establish political party on April 21.