The main issue they discussed with the Georgian authorities was sanctions against Russia and ways to evade them.
O’Brien, O’Sullivan and Ayer met with representatives of the Georgian authorities, in particular, with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, reported press service of the Georgian government.
The Georgian authorities said that Georgia is effectively combating sanctions evasion and that these efforts are allegedly “appreciated positively by the international community.” In addition, at the meeting, representatives of Georgia declared their “firm support” for Ukraine “in the political and humanitarian direction.”
On June 28, O’Brien, Ayer and O’Sullivan gave press conferences following the visit.
O’Brien said that Russia wants to use the territory of Georgia to provide for its army, reported “News – Georgia”.
“We are working with several of Russia’s neighbors because we know that the Russians want to use the territory of Georgia to finance and support their military machine. We are working with Russia’s neighbors and Russia’s largest trading partners to prevent this from happening,” the diplomat said.
According to him, the efforts of the authorities to prevent Russia from using their territory for military purposes are already noticeable in a number of countries.
“We see it in public statements in Turkey, in Kazakhstan, and also in the good, very extensive work of the Georgian government departments,” O’Brien said.
Ayer explained that the delegation was primarily interested in 38 types of electronic components that Russia uses to manufacture weapons.
“We know that many types of Russian weapons depend on Western parts that we have authorized. We know from surveys and reports from the front that they [россияне] can no longer get these parts from the West, they use lower quality parts and their weapons become less effective. We have been very open and public about the components that we are most concerned about,” Ayer is quoted as saying. Interpressnews.
O’Sullivan expressed disappointment with Georgia’s decision not to join the sanctions against Russia, reported Civil Georgia. He stressed that the bloc wants to see “a high degree of coordination in foreign policy” from a country that aspires to become a member of the European Union. At the same time, he noted that the Georgian authorities have shown “serious commitment” to the fight against sanctions evasion and attempts to use Georgia as a platform for this.
local edition Sleep wrote that “if this trio knocked on your door, it means things are bad.” But the Georgian authorities said they were satisfied with the results of the meetings with the delegation, “Voice of America”.
“We are actively cooperating on the issue of the implementation of sanctions both with the American side and with the EU delegation. During the meeting, we agreed that this cooperation will continue in the future,” Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili said.
Context:
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine (since February 24, 2022), official Tbilisi has declared “full and absolute political support for Ukraine”, but refused to provide Kiev with weapons so as not to become a “party to the war”, and did not support sanctions against Russia.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced the recall of the Ukrainian ambassador to Georgia, Igor Dolgov, due to the position of the country’s authorities regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said that Ukraine would return the ambassador “to friendly Georgia” as soon as it felt support from the Georgian authorities.
The Russian Federation may use Georgia as a loophole to circumvent sanctions, wrote The New York Times. “Voice of America”, referring to analysts, said that sanctioned goods from Georgia enter Russia through Armenia and Kazakhstan. According to official data, in the first two months of 2023, exports from Georgia to Armenia increased by 197% compared to the same period in 2022, and exports to the Russian Federation – by 38%. At the same time, in 2022, exports from Georgia to Armenia increased by 129%, to Kazakhstan – by 148%, to Russia – by 7%.
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2023-06-28 21:27:31