"Georgian side does not impose sanctions against Russia" | Kobakhidze

"Georgian side does not impose sanctions against Russia", - Chairman of the "Georgian Dream" Irakli Kobakhidze stated this on TV Imedi.

As for the Georgian side, the Georgian side does not impose sanctions on Russia. The reason is that by imposing sanctions on Russia, we will actually sanction our own country and our own people, which we of course will not do. We have calculated what the imposition of sanctions on Russia would cause for Georgia's economy, Kobakhidze said.

According to him, by Putin's decision, Russia "removed the sanctions imposed by the Georgian people".

We had to make a clarification on this issue at the time, to state our position based on the fact that this position was voiced by the Russian side. Our position was simple - there are up to a million Georgian citizens or Georgians, people who have left Georgia and live in the Russian Federation, these people have to come to Georgia through other countries today, which increases costs, creates inconvenience and so on. Actually, Russia imposed a sanction, a punishment on these people in 2019, and what we have seen today is the lifting of this sanction. A certain punishment was imposed on the citizens of Georgia, up to a million people, who are potential beneficiaries, so to speak, of this issue, and in the end, this sanction was removed today. We could not have any position regarding this, because it was a unilateral decision at the time, when the sanction was imposed, and it is still a unilateral decision today, - says Kobakhidze.