Before Ukraine there was Georgia. In 2008, we had an invasion of Russia into Georgia, our country. Russia invaded Georgia and occupied 20% of our territory, which is still occupied by Russia. Such a statement made today the Prime Minister of Georgia at a Qatari Economic Forum.

“And Russian troops are in Georgia, in our territory; so, basically, we are living with Russian troops. This is reality. It’s an ongoing occupation. I want to remind everyone that during that time, 2008, no one in this world paid enough attention-let’s be very open and frank-to the fact that a sovereign nation, the independent country of Georgia, was invaded by Russia, a neighbour country, occupied 20% of our territory, and there was no reaction, no adequate, proper reaction from the world.

No sanctions were imposed on Russia. Nothing! So, in 2014, the world was surprised when we all saw the annexation of Crimea. And just recently, 2022, we are witnessing a full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine. To answer your question where Georgia stands in this situation, you can understand that, taking into account the fact that Georgia is occupied, and we live with Russian troops, Georgia - let’s be very open-is quite vulnerable in this situation. Of course, we are worried about the security situation of our nation and people. Politically, of course, we support Ukraine, at every international platform, whether it is the UN, the EU, OSCE-we joined more than 260 resolutions and statements, everything we could do.

Of course, we are part of the international, global financial system, and one of the clear examples that our reaction was adequate was that we made it very clear publicly that no sanctioned individual or company would be allowed to use Georgia to bypass the sanctions. And one clear example is VTB Bank. The moment it was sanctioned, the National Bank of Georgia, together with the Government, worked very closely and rapidly, within a week, we managed this deal. We solved the issue but we made it clear that we Georgians cannot impose national economic sanctions on Russia, for very obvious reasons-because we have our own national interests, our own security challenges, economic challenges-that is basically our motivation, And Georgia is not the only country that did not impose national economic sanctions on Russia. Because of the vulnerability of our country, because you cannot find many countries which are occupied by Russia, and taking into account the geography of our country, you can easily understand where we are.

I want to repeat that I as Head of Government must think about the security of our people. Of course, politically, we align with the international community. We are in full coordination with our international partners, American and European partners. That’s our position. For example, Moldova, another Associated Trio member, did not impose economic sanctions on Russia for very obvious reasons-they have maybe even more security challenges”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.