David O’Sullivan, the European Union’s special envoy for sanctions, has sent a letter to Georgia’s foreign minister Maka Botchorishvili praising the Georgian government’s efforts to prevent its territory from being used for the export and re-export of sensitive goods to Russia.

In a letter, O’Sullivan noted that Brussels highly values the steps taken by the Georgian authorities to ensure compliance with international sanctions.

“I would like to thank you for the letter dated February 18, 2026, and the document submitted to the EU member states in connection with the EU’s 20th package of sanctions scheduled to be approved shortly.

The EU has 605 ships on its sanctions list. We will continue to target those vessels that undermine the effectiveness of our sanctions, including by adding approximately 40 more vessels to the 20th sanctions package.

The vessels are being sanctioned under EU Council Regulation (EU) No. 833/2014, based on evidence that the tankers were engaged in high-risk maritime shipping practices. Another reason for sanctioning ships is their support for Russian energy sector, while fighting with shadow fleet was not only limited to sanctioning of ships but required a comprehensive approach targetting entire logistic chain and wider ecosystem.

The European Union is working to reduce its dependence on Russian energy and is stepping up efforts to restrict Russian exports of oil products. With that purpose, we impose bans on transactions in the sectors which contribute to these activities, including in Russia and the infrastructure in third countries, which serve these activities and may jeopardize the effectiveness of sanctions by circumventing them.

In this context, the inclusion of the Kulevi port in Georgia was initially considered in the 20th package of sanctions due to its role in the maritime transportation of Russian oil and the entry of “shadow fleet” tankers into the port. This initial position has been revised after your government and the port operator made positive commitments.

I welcome your commitment that Georgia will not allow EU-sanctioned vessels to enter its ports or receive services and SOCAR’s commitments that it will conduct its activities in strict compliance with relevant EU sanctions, including by respecting the price cap and EU’s imports bans on Russian crude oil and of refined products made from such oil. These commitments have been critical for our review of the situation and ultimately led to the non-inclusion of the Kulevi port in our 20th sanctions package

Your commitment that EU sanctions will not be circumvented through Georgian territory will continue to be closely monitored in the future, and if necessary, we are ready to take appropriate measures to ensure that our sanctions are not weakened… I am looking forward to the continuation of cooperation”, - says David O’Sullivan.