In response to the State Department's concerns, one important thing is that no foreign politician or entity says that we are violating any sanctions by flying directly to Russia. If there is any motivation behind these assessments, then they should talk about this motivation, said the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili.
As he told the journalists, when no country and no organization guarantees the military and economic security of Georgia, it is an injustice to demand that the country impose bilateral sanctions.
According to him, Georgia is fully conscientious in terms of compliance with international sanctions.
"It is important to look at the facts. In the case of direct flights with Russia, there is no talk of any recovery from Georgia's side. Georgia itself has never stopped direct flights with Russia. Despite the fact that we had a war with them in 2008, neither the then government nor the subsequent government created any barriers to direct flights with Russia. In 2019, Russia closed the flights itself, and here Georgia did nothing at all, except that it remained within the framework of the policy that it was pursuing before.
In response to the State Department's concerns, one important thing is that no foreign politician or any particular entity is saying that we are violating or circumventing any sanctions with these flights. Let's agree that direct flights do not violate any international sanctions. If there is any motivation behind these assessments, then that motivation should be discussed.
Not now, but more than a year ago, we declared what our policy is in relation to Russia. On the one hand, we do not ignore international sanctions. In this regard, Georgia is completely honest. Second, we do not impose bilateral sanctions. The Georgian people also agree with this policy, and last year the Georgian opposition also agreed. Closing the sky, tightening visa rules and any such decision means sanction, and sanction means escalation. This creates a situation where it is difficult to predict what will happen next. While no country and no organization guarantees the military and economic security of Georgia, the demand that the country impose bilateral sanctions is an injustice," said Shalva Papuashvili.
