President Zourabichvili's Administration responds to Irakli Kobakhidze in a written statement
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
The President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili's administration has released a statement regarding internationally imposed sanctions against Russia and Georgia's role in it, after Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of Georgian Dream criticized her for 'lying'.
The Administration's letter serves the purpose to clarify that President Zourabichvili never said that Georgia is 'circumventing the sanctions' and she is always the 'first one' to defend the country's image and interests internationally.
According to the statement, the President of Georgia has not only never accused the country in this matter, but she has always defended and still defends the country's image internationally, both with high-ranking officials and with foreign and local media.
"She has repeatedly stated that according to the information available to her, there is no fact of evasion of sanctions through Georgia, on the contrary, the financial sector of Georgia meticulously fulfills all international financial sanctions.
In today's situation, when there are accusations against the country, as if the territory of Georgia is being used to evade sanctions, the government needs to take all measures so that the country's reputation is effectively protected," the presidential administration said in a statement.
The statement was followed by Kobakhidze's response. He said that the follow up statement of the president's administration is acceptable, by which the president admitted that there is no circumvention of sanctions through Georgia.
"When there is a demand on the agenda for the authorities to properly respond to the accusations regarding the circumvention of sanctions, it is understood as if the accusations are relevant, which is very wrong. We once again needed to publicize the relevant facts. It's good that the president has made a proper statement on this topic now and admitted that there is no circumvention of sanctions through Georgia. Accordingly, this statement is welcome for us," said Irakli Kobakhidze.
