Prime Minister justifies warming relations with Moscow – RT in French

Georgia cannot afford to impose sanctions on Russia that would risk “devastating” its economy, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibachvili told a forum in Qatar.

A few days after the restoration of air links between Tbilisi and Moscow, Georgian leader Irakli Garibachvili defended his country’s position in the face of international criticism.

“Not only would we be harming Georgia, but we would also be devastating our economy and jeopardizing the interests of our country and our people if we imposed any form of economic sanctions on Russia,” he said, pointing out that bilateral trade represented approximately one billion dollars per year.

Georgia, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, was defeated by Russia in 2008 in a blitzkrieg that resulted in Moscow recognizing the independence of two pro-Russian separatist republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which seceded from Georgia in 1992.

The country officially wants to join the European Union and NATO, but NGOs and opposition activists accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of encouraging an authoritarian drift.

Ukraine: Orban and Garibachvili regret the absence of talks

Irakli Garibachvili criticized the hypocrisy of the international community, “which had continued to deal normally with Russia”: “Where is the logic? Our war was not a war and the war in Ukraine is a war?” he wondered, judging that Russia had seized 20% of Georgian territory in 2008 and had installed two military bases there .

“Nobody knows” how the war in Ukraine will end, added the Georgian Prime Minister, before deploring the absence of measures aimed at “encouraging peace talks”.

The conflict in Ukraine was one of the main topics discussed at the Qatar Economic Forum. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pleaded for negotiations with Moscow, saying kyiv could not win the war.