Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Thursday responded to the Russian Government lifting its ban on flights with Georgia and visa requirements for citizens of the country by saying it was a “unilateral decision” by Russia, and pledged continued observance of sanctions placed by the international country on the latter for its invasion of Ukraine.
"This is a unilateral decision - both in terms of [imposing or lifting bans on flights]. In this regard, what I can say is that vehicles subject to import and export control by partner countries will not be able to operate on the territory of Georgia”, Khutsishvili said.
"There have been no questions for Georgia about the implementation of specific regulations established at the international level - neither before, nor now, nor will there be in the future”, he added in reference to compliance with the sanctions.
The Minister said “we have seen nothing but false information and baseless accusations” regarding ensuring the sanctions in Georgia, adding there had not been “any evidence” pointing to violations of the sanctions.
"We have heard statements made by both the American side and the European Union, and at the level of ambassadors - there is no fact that there is even one case in Georgia that someone was able to bypass the sanctions. At the same time, we can look back over the past year and see more than 50-70 statements that we had to release [to counter allegations of violations of the sanctions]”, Khutsishvili added.
The Minister also claimed Georgia was one of the “advanced countries” for tax and customs administration and sanctions enforcement “not only in the region but also on the European continent”, while acknowledging as a state bordering Russia the country was in the focus of “heightened attention” in the topic of the sanctions.
