PM: Gov’t conducted “effective policy” ensuring Georgia not being used for circumvention of Russian sanctions

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Friday said Georgia conducted an “effective policy” to ensure the country’s territory would not be used for the circumvention of international sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Kobakhidze said sanctions officials from the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, who were on a visit to Georgia last year, “very positively” evaluated the Government's efforts in this regard.

In cooperation with our European and American partners, we monitor the movement of 50 high-priority commodity groups, and perform periodic reporting”, he said.

During this period, 1,898 decisions were made to refuse the customs operation and return the goods to the sending country”, he added.

The PM said the country’s Government would “continue to act in this spirit in the future”.

Sanctions officials from the EU, the UK and the US, highlighted they had been “convinced” that the country’s Government was “seriously” determined not to allow the circumvention of sanctions imposed on Russia.

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David O’Sullivan, the European Union Sanctions Envoy, said he was “impressed” by the measures the Government had taken against sanctions evasion.

O’Sullivan added the bloc understood the “very specific situation of Georgia [with the country’s territories occupied by Russia]”, and highlighted the country’s Government was taking “very serious obligations” not to allow circumvention of the sanctions by use of the Georgian territory.