We have made it clear that Georgians will not be able to impose national, economic sanctions on Russia because of our national interests, security and economic challenges. Such a statement made today the Prime Minister of Georgia at a Qatari Economic Forum.

“There was Georgia was before Ukraine. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and occupied 20% of our territories. 20% are still occupied. Russian troops are on our territory. We live with them. This is a reality. It’s an ongoing occupation. I want to remind everyone that in 2008 no one in the world paid enough attention.

A sovereign state, independent Georgia was in the face of Russian aggression and the world did not have any adequate, right reaction. No sanctions were imposed against Russia. So in 2014 the world was surprised when the annexation of Crimea took place. In 2022 we saw a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

To answer the question, where is Georgia in this situation? Given that Georgia is occupied and we live with Russian troops, we are vulnerable in this situation. We are concerned about the security of our nation and people. We politically support Ukraine on all international platforms - UN, OSCE. We have joined 260 resolutions.

We have made it clear that individual companies will not be able to evade sanctions. Within a week, the Government and the National Bank managed and resolved this issue, but we made it clear that we, Georgians, could not impose national economic sanctions on Russia because we had our own national interests - our own security and economic challenges. This is our motivation.

Georgia is not the only country that has not imposed national economic sanctions on Russia for security reasons. I, as the head of the Government, should think about the security of our people. Of course, politically we stand with the international community, we are in full coordination with our partners.

For example, Moldova, another country in the Associated Trio, has not imposed economic sanctions on Russia for very natural reasons, it may have more security challenges”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.