Ruling party Secretary: Georgia pledges “full and absolute” political support to Ukraine but “cannot and will not” provide military aid

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said his Government was pledging “full and absolute” political support to Ukraine and providing humanitarian aid “beyond its capabilities”, but “cannot and will not” provide military aid.

Mdinaradze was responding to a statement of Andriy Kasyanov, a representative of the Ukrainian Embassy to Georgia, who on Tuesday said that “despite numerous requests, no response has been received from the Georgian Government regarding supply of military and other dual-purpose equipment to Ukraine” amid the latter’s struggle against the Russian invasion.

Kasyanov spoke on many topics - everything was secondary and, frankly, intended to harm the Georgian Government. They want - and this is what Kasyanov said - Georgia to appear as a party in a military armed conflict, that is, in a war. It is not in the interests of Georgia to become a party to Russia's war of occupation, and we will maintain peace”, the GD official said.

Mdinaradze also stressed the “main point and goal” of the statement by Kasyanov was for Georgia to “affirm itself as a party in a conflict” while the country was sheltering “more than 30,000 Ukrainian IDPs, provides humanitarian aid, and is a supporter or co-author of more than 400 documents in support of Ukraine”.

Georgia declares its full and absolute political support to Ukraine, provides humanitarian aid beyond the scope of its capabilities, but cannot and will not provide military aid, because a country with occupied territories, a country under a risk, cannot appear as a military supporter”, he concluded.