The European Union has officially stated today that the Kulevi factory is part of the Russian war economy and has openly exposed Kobakhidze’s official lie - Grigol Gegelia
The European Union has officially stated today that the Kulevi factory is part of the Russian war economy and has openly exposed Kobakhidze’s official lie! - Sanctioning the Kulevi factory is an extremely heavy political signal and a verdict for the “Georgian Dream” regime, - said Grigol Gegelia, a member of “Lelo – Strong Georgia”.
According to Gegelia, this is the first case when not a separate European state, but the entire European Union imposes sanctions against a Georgian entity.
“This is a sad and dark moment in our history. This is a situation in which our country should never have found itself. This is not a matter of one company or one factory. This is a matter of Georgia’s international reputation, European course and national interests. When Georgia’s strategic infrastructure is on the EU sanctions agenda, it means that Georgia is officially considered an integral part of Russia’s war economy.
On March 16, Irakli Kobakhidze stated that “the Kulevi port, factory, terminal are not used to circumvent sanctions”. Although the port was removed from the sanctions list at that time, we see that four months after this statement, a factory was sanctioned, which [I quote] – “is engaged in the trade and processing of Russian oil”.
Consequently, the EU has officially stated today that the Kulevi factory is part of the Russian war economy and has openly exposed Kobakhidze’s official lie. This has once again damaged Georgia’s reputation as a reliable and valuable transit hub, which further weakens our transit potential and poses a significant threat to our country’s economic interests. Of course, when the strategic infrastructure of a candidate state is placed under a sanctions regime, this means that the candidacy has been completely and finally emptied of political content and purpose.
How did Georgia end up in such a situation? How did it happen that today the once most pro-Western state in the region is suspected of harboring Russian oil and crypto platforms? This is the main question that every Georgian should ask today under normal government conditions, Georgia should not have reached such a shameful political moment or such a deplorable economic risk.
"Georgia should be a reliable partner for Europe, a strong transit country and a state whose strategic infrastructure is not considered in the context of international sanctions, but is perceived as a safe gateway connecting the continents of Europe and Asia through Anaklia. That is why we must end the regime that constantly equates to international shame, poverty, the outflow of Georgians from the country, and lack of prospects," said Grigol Gegelia.