Georgia moved quickly to block sanctions evasion, says Georgian Foreign Minister

Georgia has immediately implemented relevant measures to ensure compliance with international sanctions regimes and to prevent its territory from being used for sanctions evasion, said on Wednesday Georgian foreign minister Maka Botchorishvili.

During an interpellation session in Parliament, Botchorishvili noted that Georgia has not recorded a single confirmed case of sanctions evasion through its territory, despite what she described as ongoing political attacks and speculation on the issue.

Botchorishvili noted that in June 2023, a high-level delegation from the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom visited Georgia to work on sanctions-related coordination. She said Georgian authorities held intensive discussions with the delegation and presented the mechanisms the country had developed to ensure compliance, which she stated continue to function effectively today. Regular information exchange with European partners on sanctions enforcement also continues, she added.

The minister also highlighted ongoing communication with the EU Special Representative on sanctions issues, including correspondence dated March 5, 2026, and October 9, 2025, both of which have previously been made public. She emphasized that when new sanctions packages are introduced, the Georgian side is informed and takes appropriate measures to ensure full compliance.

Botchorishvili reported that Georgian customs authorities have recorded 2,777 cases of refusal to allow sanctioned goods to proceed through customs procedures, along with more than 1,950 cases of refusal to permit export or re-export in economic zones. Since 2022, 61 vessels have been denied entry to Georgian ports on sanctions-related grounds.

“Since 2022, 61 ships have been denied entry to Georgian ports on sanctions-related grounds. Despite these figures and the fact that Georgia is faithfully implementing sanctions regimes, speculation on this topic does not stop, and this issue continues to be used against Georgia. Although no single case of sanctions evasion via Georgian territory has been recorded, attacks on Georgia continue regularly, both by internal actors acting as satellites and by external forces. This also shows that our country is a target of certain forces that spare no effort to threaten our national interests, peace, and security in our country”, the minister noted.

“In this context, the struggle of the Georgian government to defend Georgia’s interests is not easy, but we can only say with pride that we are successfully managing to maintain peace and security in our country in an extremely difficult geopolitical environment and to create an appropriate environment for stable economic development and prosperity”, she concluded.