Ukrainian FM Dmytro Kuleba says that his country is waiting for evidence from Tbilisi that the latter is not aiding Russian smuggling to circumvent international sanctions, following Kyiv’s allegations for this earlier this week and Tbilisi demanding evidence, calling the accusations “groundless and insulting.”
“We are waiting for official evidence and convincing arguments from Georgia that they are not doing that. If the evidence and arguments are not convincing enough, then we will decide what to do,” Evropeiska Pravda cited Kuleba as saying.
Kuleba noted that if Ukraine and international partners had not had an influence on Georgian authorities, Russians would have already created illegal channels via Georgia to bypass sanctions imposed on them for invading Ukraine.
The Georgian Ministry of Finance and the State Security Service responded to Kyiv’s allegations shortly, claiming that Georgian borders are well-administered and demanded Ukraine to present evidence behind the accusations.
“Otherwise, the statement (allegations) will be considered premeditated misinformation, an extremely unfriendly and provocative step aimed at provoking internal unrest in Georgia, which willfully or unwillingly serves only the interests of the forces hostile to Georgia,” said the Georgian State Security Service yesterday.
The Georgian Dream officials and MPs said following Kuleba’s statement today that “it is illegal that Ukraine demanding evidence from Georgia on its own allegations.”