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Garibashvili accused the West: Our war is not a war, but Ukraine's war is a war?

24 May 2023 12:44 (UTC +04:00)

Georgia imposing economic sanctions on Russia can lead to the destruction of its own economy, said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili at the Qatar Economic Forum, APA’s Tbilisi correspondent reports.
“We were in a war in 2008. Do you remember that anyone imposed sanctions on Russia due to the war with us? No one. Nobody in the world responded adequately to that war. Therefore, my question is: Where is the logic? Our war is not a war, but Ukraine's war is a war?,” said Prime Minister in response to the moderator’s question.
Garibashvili added that after 2008, Russia occupied 20 percent of Georgia’s territories, established 2 military bases in its historical lands, and recognized the independence of separatist “republics”. However, the West continued its business relations with Russia as usual: "This occupation still continues. My question to our American and European friends is – dear friends, you do not continue business with Russia as usual. No one has imposed sanction against Russia. Let me bring to your attention that the EU paid 2.5 trillion dollars to Russia in 2008-2022. The volume of foreign trade turnover of Georgia with Russia is less than 1 billion dollars. For comparison, we do 4 days of Europe's trade with Russia in a year. 1 billion dollars cannot affect the Russian economy. This is 0.3 percent for him, so there is no logic behind us imposing sanctions on Russia".