Finance Ministry: allegation on Russia using Georgian territory for smuggling sanctioned goods “completely baseless and absurd accusation”

The Ministry of Finance of Georgia said on Monday the information on Russia creating smuggling channels for sanctioned products using Georgian territory was “a completely baseless and absurd accusation.” Photo: Ministry of Finance

Agenda.ge, 04 Apr 2022 - 17:56, Tbilisi,Georgia

The Ministry of Finance of Georgia said on Monday the information on Russia creating smuggling channels for sanctioned products using Georgian territory was “a completely baseless and absurd accusation.”

The Ministry was commenting following statements by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk, who alleged the Georgian political leadership had agreed to smuggle sanctioned goods to Russia through Georgia.

From the very first days of the imposition of sanctions on the Russian Federation by the international community, Georgia has been exercising strict control over all customs checkpoints in the country and has been monitoring incoming and outgoing cargo,” the statement of the Ministry said.

The Ministry declared "with full responsibility" that “any type of goods, both military and of dual-use, as well as all the products that are included in the list of sanctions, are subject to strict customs control by the Georgian Government.”

It should be noted that all our international partners are informed about this in detail. Georgia will continue to exercise strict control in this area and share information with partners,” the statement concluded.