Georgian PM denies sanctions evasion claims as opposition raises allegations over Kulevi port

Georgia’s government is strictly complying with international sanctions, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said, rejecting allegations that the country has been used to circumvent restrictions.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Kobakhidze said previous claims about sanctions evasion were speculative and had been dismissed by monitoring missions. “Various monitoring missions visited our country - including American, European and British missions - and all confirmed that statements regarding the circumvention of sanctions were completely speculative,” he said.

The prime minister added that the issue also concerned the Black Sea port of Kulevi, stressing that the government had shared full information with European structures to demonstrate that no violations had occurred.

However, opposition politician Roman Gotsiridze has raised new concerns following the publication of Georgia’s 2026 foreign trade data by the national statistics office.

Gotsiridze said the data showed that in January Georgia exported $56 million worth of finished petroleum products, despite not operating an active oil refinery. He noted that the oil refinery under construction in Kulevi has not yet been commissioned.

He also pointed to 2025 export figures, stating that Georgia exported - not re-exported - $79.5 million worth of 151,700 tonnes of finished fuel, mainly in November and December. According to him, this coincided with the reported import in October of 105 tonnes of Russian crude oil to the Kulevi facility.

The opposition politician suggested several possible scenarios, including the alleged misclassification of Russian-origin diesel or gasoline as crude oil, blending operations that would not constitute full refining, or the export of Azerbaijani-origin products labelled as Georgian. He argued that any such actions could amount to falsification of customs documentation and potential sanctions violations if Russian petroleum products ultimately reached EU markets.

Gotsiridze also said that the Kulevi terminal is owned by Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR, adding that the company should respond to the allegations.

He claimed that discussions were ongoing within the European Union regarding possible sanctions related to the port, though this has not been officially confirmed.