Georgia prevents circumvention of anti-Russian sanctions Minister's statement

Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili has said that the Georgian authorities prevented the transportation of sanctioned goods from Western countries to the Russian Federation 1,770 times.

“Some 1,770 cases of sanctions circumvention have been observed since the introduction of sanctions. Georgia either stopped the operation or returned the goods. Moreover, about 1,000 cases have been noticed when business operators appealed to the customs agency for appropriate consultations,” Khutsishvili said, Caliber.Az reports citing the Georgian media.

Deputy Head of the Revenue Service of the Georgian Finance Ministry Vladimir Khundadze told journalists that in almost all cases we mean equipment, household chemicals and cars that were supplied to Georgia for the re-export from the EU and the US. As for dual-use goods, they are specially controlled, so the statistics announced by the minister do not take them into account.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced during the first days of the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war that he had no plans to impose sanctions against Russia as there are national interests. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled the ambassador from Tbilisi in March 2023 because of the Georgian authorities’ position on sanctions.

A year later, many international media outlets wrote that Georgia was assisting Russia to circumvent sanctions. Several investigations have been devoted to this topic. Moscow announced a “breaking of the economic blockade” on the Georgian-Russian border.

EU Sanctions Envoy David O'Sullivan, Head of the US Department of State's Sanctions Coordination Office, Ambassador James O'Brien and Director General of Economics, Science and Technology at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Kumar Iyer visited Georgia in June 2023.

The key topics of their meetings in Tbilisi were Western sanctions and preventing transportation of sanctioned products to Russia through Georgia, which could be used by the Russian Federation for military purposes.

Diplomats who visited Georgia declared the Georgian authorities' readiness to cooperate. They noted that they are not trying to impede trade with Russia. The matter rests in the restrictions on a certain list of electronic products.