Shalva Papuasvili: Georgia almost the only active supporter of Ukraine without economic and security guarantees  

Georgia is almost the only country in the alliance which supports Ukraine without economic and security guarantees, having at the same time two regions occupied by Russia and Russian military positioned at 30 km away from the capital city Tbilisi, stated the chairman of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuasvili, in an interview offered to Agerpres.Shalva Papuasvili paid a visit to Romania, opportunity for discussions with the Romanian officials including about the aspirations of his country for Euro-Atlantic integration.The authorities in Tbilisi hope to get the statute of candidate country for accession to the EU this year, as Brussels decided last year that Georgia needs to make supplementary reforms.Georgia which was the victim of a Russian aggression in 2008 did not adopt sanctions against Russia, according to a policy so-called ‘strategic patience’ but they try to ensure that its territory is not used for circumvention of international sanctions.‘One thing must be emphasized – Georgia is almost the only country in this alliance which is an active supporter of Ukraine without the protecting nuclear umbrella of NATO above its head, without the umbrella of economic solidarity of the European Union, with two regions occupied by Russia and Russian military positioned at 30 km away from the capital city Tbilisi, at 500 metres away from the main highway (…)’ stated Papuasvili in the interview.Regarding his country's desire to ensure that its territory is not used to circumvent sanctions, he said that "one or two months ago, the EU, US and UK sanctions coordinators visited Georgia to find out how the system works" and concluded that the system implemented by the Georgian government allows for full alignment with the application of international sanctions."Moreover, based on clues from Georgian maritime agencies, the European Union learned how sanctions were circumvented in the Black Sea, when Russian ships went out to sea and met ships under other flags and goods were transferred from one ship to another," reported Shalva Papua?vili. As regards the possible pressure on the part of the EU or other allies to align with the sanctions policy against Russia, he says that his country did not have to face such a matter.‘I myself had the chance to discuss with different representatives of the EU about sanctions. Of course, I see that the general attitude is the desire that every country impose sanctions and that there is a circle around Russia. At the same time, everybody understands the fact that without giving security guarantees to a country, without giving economic guarantees to a country, you cannot expect that they risk their security and economic situation. That is why I think there is complete understanding on the European part’ Papuasvili said.