Parliament official: Austrian Chancellor’s statement “slap in the face” to those “making up fake news” on sanctions evasion

Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, on Tuesday said the comment by the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who on Monday said he was “glad that Georgia supported all the financial sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU”, was a “slap in the face to those who “make up fake news” on the sanctions being evaded using the Georgian territory.

Sarjveladze said opponents of the ruling Georgian Dream party Government had “invented nonexistent violations simply to damage the reputation of the state” with their claims of sanctioned goods being imported by Russia from Georgia since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Of course, the Austrian Chancellor's statement was a slap in the face to those who invent fake news in order to insult the Government by insulting the state”, the Parliament official said.

The Committee Chair added the Chancellor’s comment meant the “entire world” had heard “from very high-level, authoritative sources” that “Georgia clearly fulfils its international obligations and that there are no violations” of the application of the sanctions.

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“Unfortunately, our opponents see their own salvation and progress in this country's failure, in this country having problems - including reputational problems”, he claimed.

Therefore, they create and invent nonexistent violations simply to damage the reputation of the state. This is an antagonism to this country's interests, when no-one has any reason to accuse the country of facilitating evasion of sanctions”, Sarjveladze concluded.