“The meeting was not our initiative; it was President Zelenskyy himself who took the initiative, and in doing so stepped over the very constraint he had created, finding himself obliged to go and deliver his message to a man he himself had sanctioned,” said Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, speaking to journalists.

Papuashvili added that it ought to serve as a lesson to all that unjust decisions ultimately harm those who make them.

“It was not us who damaged the relationship. The fact is that it was the Ukrainian authorities’ reckless decisions that brought the situation to such a pass that President Zelenskyy found himself compelled to go and speak to a man he himself had sanctioned. This is an instructive lesson for everyone who attempts to blackmail Georgia with sanctions. It should be a lesson to all that unjust decisions and actions harm those who take them; they will not harm the Georgian people, and that ultimately, everyone will be obliged to look reality in the eye.

As for the Ukrainian authorities, we hope that this represents a process of reconsideration. We shall see. This meeting was not our initiative; it was President Zelenskyy himself who took the initiative, and in doing so stepped over the very constraint he had created, finding himself obliged to go and deliver his message to a man he himself had sanctioned. Presumably, they wish to put forward some reconsidered position. Georgia is ready to hear all of this, and we shall act accordingly,” Papuashvili stated.