Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday told the Bratislava Global Security Forum that his country was “concerned” by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but said his office was “first of all concerned by the country’s situation”. 

He told the audience his office was trying to “navigate” amid existing security challenges, during the presence of Russian troops in Georgia's occupied regions and the absence of “any international security umbrellas”. 

“This is probably the most challenging time after WWII. We had very difficult days back in 2008 [when Russia invaded Georgia]. I will remind everyone that the first war was in Georgia. Today maybe some people forgot that Georgia’s 20 percent is occupied by Russia and their troops are stationed there. This is the result of that devastating war. If our government was in power in 2008, I think we would do everything possible to avoid that war”, Garibashvili said.

He noted Georgia was a small country of four million, with a “well-trained, well-equipped and well-experienced army but still small”. 

“ I think it is in every government’s interest, especially when we are a small country, when you are not a member of the EU, NATO, when you do not have any security guarantees, to ensure peace,” Garibashvili said and added “none of foreign states imposed sanctions on Russia for invading Georgia in 2008”. 

The PM also said the ongoing conflict in Ukraine was “catastrophic, thousands of people are dying everyday and we do not see any sign that this war will end soon”. 

“We support Ukraine, we support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We want to see the peace restored and Ukraine’s territorial integrity restored very soon. But I want to talk about my country first. I understand your concern about Ukraine, everybody is concerned. But we are concerned about ourselves first. Because we have Russian troops on our soil”, he said. 

In comments on resumed direct Russia-Georgia flights and Tbilis’s refusal to impose individual sanctions on Russia, the PM said it was the previous United National Movement authorities that lifted visa restrictions with Russia in 2012 and also sold the country’s assets to them.

He also said that the “EU paid 2.5 trillion USD to Russia during 2008-2022. So, this is a reality. But now we are in a different reality. Now we are witnessing this brutal war in Ukraine. We do not see any efforts or any will from either side that this war should be stopped”.