Tbilisi cannot afford the imposition of sanctions against Russia that would “devastate” the Georgian economy, Prime Minister of Georgia Iraklii Garibashvili said on Wednesday at a forum in Qatar, AFP and Agerpres report.
A few days after the resumption of air service between Tbilisi and Moscow, in the midst of the war in Ukraine, the Georgian leader defended his country’s position in the face of international criticism.
“We will not only hurt Georgia, but we will also destroy our economy and endanger the interests of our country and people if we impose any form of economic sanctions against Russia,” he said, noting that two-way trade is growing to about $1 billion for a year. .
Georgia, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, clashed with Russia in 2008 in a blitzkrieg that ended with Moscow recognizing the independence of two pro-Russian separatist republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which broke away from Georgia in 1992.
The country officially wants to join the European Union and NATO, but NGOs and opposition activists accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of encouraging an authoritarian drift.
“Our war was not a war, and the Ukrainian war is a war?”
Irakli Garibashvili criticized the then inaction of the international community, “which continued to behave normally with Russia.”
“Where is the logic? Our war was not a war, but the Ukrainian war is a war,” he asked, recalling that Russia conquered 20% of Georgia’s territory in 2008 and placed two military bases there.
“No one knows” how the war in Ukraine will end, added the Prime Minister of Georgia, lamenting the lack of measures to “encourage peace negotiations.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was one of the main topics discussed at the Qatar Economic Forum.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban advocated negotiations with Moscow, realizing that Kyiv cannot win the war.
But, according to the former head of the CIA, David Petraeus, the Hungarian leader put himself “on the wrong side of what will become history.”
With the help of the United States and Europe, Ukraine can make significant progress against Russian forces, a retired American general said on Tuesday.
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Source: Hot News
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