Georgian parliamentary speaker signs 'foreign agents' bill into law

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators take part in a procession to protest against a bill on "foreign agents" and to support Georgia's membership in the European Union, in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 24, 2024. A slogan on the banner addresses Georgian law enforcement officers and reads: "Serve Georgia". REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze/File Photo

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia's parliamentary speaker signed into law on Monday a bill on "foreign agents" that has caused a political crisis in the South Caucasus country and drawn sharp criticism from its Western allies.

The dispute around the law is a test of whether Georgia, for three decades among the more pro-Western of the Soviet Union's successor states, will maintain its Western orientation or move closer to Russia.