MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. The Georgian draft law on foreign agents cannot be called Russian as numerous countries have been carefully monitoring political hygiene, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing.
"That [bill] is not Russian at all as [adopting similar legislative measures] has been a normal practice in quite a number of countries which make every effort to protect themselves from any foreign influence on their domestic policy," he said.
"All countries take action. And somehow all bills pursue the same goal," Peskov concluded.
The Georgian bill to limit foreign influence and lobbying has been strongly criticized in the West as it is being compared to a similar Russian law demanding that public organizations and individuals receiving funding from overseas be transparent in disclosing this. During the consideration of the measure, several fights took place on the floor of the Georgian parliament, and street protests are ongoing.
The parliament of Georgia approved the first reading of the bill in a vote on Wednesday that was held without the opposition taking part, with 83 lawmakers voting for the controversial draft law and no votes against.