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Maritime Transport Agency and Georgian Railway Deny Accusations on Assisting Russian Companies to Circumvent Sanctions

By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
The Maritime Transport Agency of the Ministry of Economy has issued a statement on the service of ‘Russian sanctioned ships’ in the port of Batumi, rejecting a TV Pirveli channel report that alleged a Russian tanker had been provided with services in Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi in circumvention of sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The agency explained that the 5th package of EU sanctions, which includes a ban on Russian-flagged vessels entering EU ports, does not apply to energy (oil, petroleum products), agriculture, food, and humanitarian aid.

“Therefore, the services rendered to the tanker do not constitute a breach of sanctions or aiding a circumvention of sanctions,” the statement said.

The Maritime agency further noted that on May 2, a Russian-flagged tanker called SVL Pride entered the port of Batumi, with a transit cargo of 5,000 tons of diesel destined for a third country, Armenia.

“At the moment, the unloading operation is being carried out in compliance with both domestic and international norms,” the statement said.

This is not the first time that the agency has released an explanation regarding the information spread in the media. A similar statement was issued on April 16.

Meanwhile, the Georgian Railway has also denied reports of the Mtavari Arkhi channel about Russian energy giant Gazprom attempting to use the Georgian territory to transport products sanctioned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

TV channel reported earlier on Tuesday that a convoy of oil tanks bearing the Gazprom title was transporting ‘sanctioned oil’ to Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi. Georgian Railway said the fuel in the tanks was a property of a Kazakh company and was loaded on train cars of the company itself. The railway operator also said such carriages were used often by Kazakhstan, which usually sends cargo to Europe through the Batumi Port.