Our position on sanctions remains unchanged – we will not impose sanctions on the Russian Federation. There are two reasons for this: We cannot allow the escalation to deepen, and sanctions would have the most severe economic consequences for us, our country and people, – Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze said during his speech at the plenary session in the Parliament.
According to him, if sanctions are imposed on Russia, the authorities will punish not Russia, but their own country.
“Yesterday, EU ambassadors visited the Minister of Economy, with the so-called demarche regarding the resumption of flights. I want to respond to this fact. They practically demanded from us to impose sanctions on the Russian Federation, which was a kind of surprise. Both the opposition, including the radical opposition, and our partners claimed that they were not asking for sanctions, but now we see a different approach. Our position on sanctions remains unchanged – we do not impose sanctions on the Russian Federation, for two main reasons. Firstly, of course, the imposition of sanctions would be a step towards escalation, and we cannot allow the escalation to deepen, we must protect the security of our country and people, and secondly, from the economic point of view, of course, sanctions would have the most severe consequences for us, our country and people.
“We have talked about this many times. When you impose sanctions on someone, the purpose of this should be to punish him, and when by imposing sanctions you are not punishing him, but your own country and people, this is, of course, an absurdity and we cannot do it. A few days ago, one of our citizens mentioned that we sell dignity for 200-300 million. First of all, dignity cannot be sold for 200-300 million or even for 200-300 billion, this should be emphasized, this is the approach of our government, unlike the previous government. I would like to remind you of the calculations of economists in this regard – in case of imposing sanctions on Russia, as we have already said, we will punish not Russia, but our own country,” Kobakhidze said.
