The Czech Embassy in Georgia on Friday said Petr Mikyska, the Czech Ambassador to Georgia, valued the “principled” position of Georgian authorities on the international sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and “detailed” that his comments had been disseminated “out of context” by the media about Czech-made products exported to Russia via Georgia.
The embassy noted Mikyska’s comments had not been “linked” to the sanctions against Russia but general trade and added that the Georgian and Czech sides had discussed “further exchange of information” on the mentioned topic and other “sensitive issues''.
We assume that the doubts of Georgian authorities have been dispelled and the subject does not deserve further discussion”, the embassy said in its statement, following the report by Georgian media outlet Netgazeti on Wednesday, which cited Mikyska as saying that a part of products coming to Georgia from the Czech Republic had gone to Russia, in an apparent bypassing of international sanctions for the latter's invasion of Ukraine.
The Czech Ambassador was summoned on Friday to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, where the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aleksandre Khvtisiashvili demanded a detailed explanation for his statement, saying it did not correspond to reality and harmed both the cooperation of the two countries, as well as Georgia's reputation.