Finance Ministry rejects media reports of violations of sanctions on Russia in Georgia

The Ministry of Finance of Georgia on Monday responded to unspecified media reports about the territory of Georgia being used for violations of sanctions imposed by the international community against Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine by saying “no such fact” had been revealed in the country.

In comments responding to “misinformation spread by some media over the recent days”, the body said Georgia was “fully complying with established rules and strictly monitoring all types of customs operations across borders”.

The statement followed a comment by James O'Brien, the Head of the Office of the Sanctions Coordination at the United States Department of State, who said last week transit of “some electronic goods” to Russia had “increased significantly”, including from Georgia.

Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze also responded to the claims on Sunday, noting the Government was paying “maximum attention” to prevent any accusations regarding the circumvention of sanctions, which could be used against the country and damage its diplomatic relations, as well as reputation in the international arena.

• Accusations made on circumvention of sanctions were all “absurd, disproved” - Defence Minister

Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Monday said the European Union had no information or evidence of Georgia assisting circumvention of the bloc’s sanctions imposed on Russia.

• EU Ambassador: no evidence that Georgia assisted circumvention of EU sanctions on Russia

“What we want Georgia to do is that Georgia, the territory of Georgia, Georgian companies are not used for circumventing the sanctions, and at the moment, we have no opposite information. We don't have any information, evidence that Georgia is assisting circumvention of our sanctions”, he noted.