Georgian FM: EU thanks Georgia for conscientious efforts to prevent sanctions circumvention

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili on Wednesday revealed that the European Union had recently sent a thank-you letter praising the Georgian Government’s diligent cooperation in preventing the circumvention of sanctions and criticised Baltic countries for baseless accusations against Georgia, noting that sanctions evasion often occurred within their own borders.

In her remarks, Botchorishvili lamented that Georgia frequently faced unfounded attacks, particularly from Baltic nations, which portray the country negatively despite its strong performance.

“Georgia very often becomes the object of the noise that is created especially from the Baltic countries, and there are endless attempts to present our country only in a negative context. Among other things, we have seen on multiple occasions how massive attacks were carried out against Georgia when the issue concerned the implementation of sanctions and Georgia's role in this context”, she said.

The Foreign Minister announced that the EU expressed gratitude for Georgia’s thorough and responsible actions in upholding sanctions compliance, ensuring the country did not serve as a conduit for evasion.

“We received a thank-you letter from the European Union just a short while ago on how well Georgia is fulfilling its cooperation obligations and how conscientiously we are carrying out all activities related to ensuring that Georgia is not used to circumventing sanctions”, she noted.

Botchorishvili pointed out the irony that countries quick to accuse Georgia were often the sites of actual sanctions circumvention, calling for more objective and fair assessments of Georgia’s role in global compliance efforts.

“At the same time, we also see that it is precisely those countries from which unfounded accusations very often come toward our country, where a lot of developments related to circumventing sanctions take place. Of course, this is regrettable when Georgia becomes the object of attacks from these countries, and it once again shows how important it is for all positions and attitudes toward Georgia to be objective. It is regrettable that it is precisely those countries that are in the ranks against Georgia which themselves take such steps”, the FM concluded.

Levan Makhashvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on European Integration, on Wednesday commented on “shadow schemes” involving Russian oil exports in the Baltic States, saying these incidents reveal the moral standards of these countries, including in relation to Georgia, where the country has been unfairly criticised based on false information.

According to Lithuanian media reports based on investigative journalism, companies from the Baltic states have participated in transferring Russian oil via “shadow” tankers.