Kuleba Demands Evidence that Georgia is Not Helping Russia
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, April 7, 2022
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's intelligence service said on April 4 that by bypassing sanctions, the Russians were setting up smuggling channels through Georgian territory. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Georgian special services were instructed by the political leadership not to interfere with the activities of smugglers. According to the intelligence statement, the products included in the form of smuggling also include ammunition.
This information is denied by the Georgian government. The Ministry of Finance of Georgia calls the information spread by the Ukrainian intelligence a completely unfounded and absurd accusation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Deputy Foreign Minister met with Andriy Kasyanov, Charge d'Affaires of Ukraine in Georgia, to whom the Georgian side expressed concern over the information provided by the Ukrainian side. The Ukrainian side could not provide any evidence regarding the spread of information.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba says he expects official evidence and convincing arguments from Georgia that the country is not helping Russia. “Then we will decide what to do if the evidence and arguments are not convincing enough,” Kuleba said. According to him, Ukraine and its allies still have influence over Georgia's position, ‘otherwise, the Russians would have already created a bypass route for sanctions through that country’..
In response, the Georgian Dream ‘categorically demands’ that Ukraine present evidence of the ‘disgusting accusation’ itself.
“The Georgian side asks the Ukrainian side not to instrumentalize disinformation and replicate narratives with such baseless statements, which is not really in the interests of our countries and our people and encourages external forces for additional provocations,” Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Lasha Darsalia said.
According to him the meeting underlined the destructive nature of such accusations and statements and noted that it unequivocally damages the relations between our countries and poses a great risk to Georgia in terms of security and reputation. The Ukrainian diplomat was briefed on the positions of the relevant competent authorities of the Georgian side in this regard, moreover, the State Security Service provided additional clarifications, including on close coordination and cooperation with Tbilisi on similar topics.
“We remind the Ukrainian side that the exchange of such information is defined by a number of interstate agreements. Otherwise, the statement is considered to be premeditated disinformation, an extremely unfriendly and provocative step aimed at provoking internal unrest in Georgia, which, willingly or unwillingly, serves only the interests of the forces hostile to Georgia. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that Georgia continues to support Ukraine, both politically and practically, in both bilateral and international formats.”
The State Security Service of Georgia had also applied to the Ukrainian side with a request to present evidence.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says Ukraine's smuggling accusations are ‘serious allegations’ and ’strongly urges’ governments to take the matter to the appropriate channels, where it will be investigated and decided. She also added that the issue should not be resolved in front of the media and it’s only Russia, who would benefit from such confrontation.
“The Georgian government has said it will not allow such a thing to happen. It is often said that no one can stop this brutal war. Of course, Putin can, because he started this war. The sanctions are there to put pressure on him, and they have to be consistent, united, and obeyed by everyone.” Degnan commented.
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzel also told reporters that these allegations should be taken seriously and recalled that Georgian authorities made a clear response that ‘such a thing is not happening, neither in terms of practice nor risk.’ He said that it’s important that both sides continue to exchange information in order to resolve this situation in a timely manner.
“As for what we expect from Georgia. We look forward to solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainians, which we all share. Also, take the necessary steps to isolate Russia and ensure that their position is unshakable. We call on Georgia and others to actively support this as much as possible. We very much want to see that no country will open the back door to Russia to undermine our sanctions. We saw an important example at the beginning of the war, when we took financial steps towards specific banks and Georgia took very right steps, it did so very quickly when it came to VTB Bank, which was under our sanctions. We expect this in the future as well.”
