The European Commission announced on Friday that it is suspending visa-free travel for holders of Georgian diplomatic, service, and official passports due to what it described as a deliberate and ongoing violation of the commitments made under its visa-free regime.

"Representatives of Georgian authorities ​have to use their diplomatic or service passport when travelling to ​the EU for official and ​diplomatic purposes. Not doing so may ‌result ⁠in the issuance of an entry ban," the Commission said in a statement, The Caspian Post reports, citing Reuters.

Once among the ​most ​democratic and ⁠pro-Western of the successor states to emerge ​from the Soviet Union, ​Georgia ⁠has turned increasingly authoritarian since the outbreak of the war in ⁠Ukraine ​and has deepened economic ​ties with neighbouring Russia.