Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has imposed ten-year sanctions on Georgian airline Georgian Airways for resuming flights with Russia. Personal sanctions were also introduced against the director of this airline, Tamaz Gaiashvili.
The sanctions imposed by Ukraine include the freezing of assets, the cessation of business operations, flights and transit through Ukrainian territory, the suspension of economic and financial obligations, the cancellation of licenses and other permits, as well as other measures.
As the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) of Ukraine reported earlier, flights between Georgia and the Russian Federation, operated by Georgian Airways, simplify transport connections for Russia, increase the risks creating “new programs to circumvent sanctions”, and also contribute to the integration of Russian companies into the Georgian economy.
Georgian Airways director Tamaz Gaiashvili called Zelenskyy’s decision “absurd” and “unfair”. In a press release published on July 2, he underlines that the decision to resume or stop flights is not taken by the airlines, but by the State. At the same time, the director of the airline draws attention to the fact that Turkish, Israeli, Armenian and Azerbaijani airlines, as well as airlines from other states fly to Russia. However, Gaiashvili points out that, unlike Georgian Airways, they did not fall under Ukrainian sanctions.
“In conclusion, I hope that this unjust and baseless decision by the President of Ukraine will be followed by an immediate and mirrored response from the Georgian government,” Gaiashvili said in a statement.
(Recall that, according to the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin dated May 10, Russia canceled the visa regime with Georgia and the ban on direct flights between the two states from May 15. Recall that Russia introduced entry visas for Georgia in 2000 on the pretext of “ensuring security” and on the same pretext, citing “Russophobia” in Georgia, banned direct flights between countries in 2019.)
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at the time that “all decisions that will make life, travel and business easier for Georgian citizens are positive and welcome”. At the same time, the country’s President, Salome Zurabishvili, opposed the resumption of air traffic, saying that any positive dynamics in relations with the Russian Federation during the “bloody massacre” in Ukraine is unacceptable and that the restoration of air traffic at this stage is “completely unacceptable, inappropriate and untimely”.
In Ukraine, they took a negative view of Georgia accepting the resumption of flights and said that Russia was offering Georgia “political compensation” for the refusal of the Georgian authorities to impose sanctions on Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine and “to slow European integration.
Recall that relations between Kiev and Tbilisi became complicated after Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced on February 25, 2022 that despite the fact that Georgia would join all international sanctions against the Russian Federation, he would not impose individual sanctions against Russia. This provoked a violent reaction in Kiev and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled the Ukrainian ambassador from Georgia in protest.
Commenting on the Ukrainian President’s decision to impose sanctions on Georgian Airways and its director, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on July 2 that it was “far from the first unjust decision” by Kiev towards Georgia and the Georgian people.
As part of Kiev’s explanation that flights between Georgia and Russia involve the risk of Moscow circumventing the sanctions imposed on it, Papuashvili noted that the baselessness of these accusations has been confirmed by the special representatives. from the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom on sanctions who visited Georgia this week.
“The Special Representatives expressed their gratitude to the Georgian authorities, who assured that there was not a single fact confirming the circumvention of sanctions by Georgian territory. In addition, Georgian authorities are helping to identify and stop goods at the Georgian border that somehow got out of the EU and other countries,” the parliament speaker explained. Georgian. He recalled that since the introduction of international sanctions against Russia, 1,300 attempts to smuggle goods into the Russian Federation have been detected and thwarted at the Georgian border.
Recall that from June 26 to 28, special representatives of the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom on sanctions visited Georgia. Following their meetings in Tbilisi, they told reporters on June 28 that Georgian authorities were making “active efforts” to put in place a comprehensive system to detect prohibited goods to prevent their sale to Russia. The special representatives also noted that, generally, “the majority of sanctions busting occurs across land borders.”
Representatives of the US State Department and the European Union warned Georgian authorities in May that “now is not the time to intensify cooperation with Russia”. Georgia has been repeatedly invited to join the sanctions against the Russian aviation sector. The Georgian authorities explained their refusal to do so by the fact that there are about a million ethnic Georgians living in Russia who regularly visit their homeland and they cannot impose sanctions on their own citizens.
On July 2, US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan commented on the situation. She reminded that in the conditions of the suspension of air communications with the Russian Federation through Europe, Russian citizens use Georgia to travel to Europe. As a result, Degnan said, the effect of sanctions and pressure on Russia is weakened, the purpose of which is to stop the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against the Ukrainian people.
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