PM: After 2008 war, we have not seen any sanctions imposed on Russia, on the contrary, we saw business as usual with Russia, it was a very bad signal

There is no alternative to peace, said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili at a panel discussion Moving Mountains: Building Security in the South Caucasus held within the framework of the Munich Security Conference (MSC).

The discussion speaker Christoph Heusgen asked the PM about the impact of the war in Ukraine on Georgia and the role of the Geneva International Discussions.

“When it comes to the war in Ukraine, of course, this is a big challenge for all of us. Since WWII, I think, Europe and the world in general has not experienced such a big challenge. You know that in 2008 we had a war with Russia and since then Russia occupies our historic territories – Abkhazia and so called South Ossetia. Russia has 2 military bases on our territory and since then we have been facing lots of problems and challenges, but after we came to power in 2012 we have made a lot of efforts to de-escalate the tension.

At the same time, we have been very active on our European integration path. Georgia signed an Association Agreement, Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, we got the visa-free regime and last year came the historic decision when the European Council decided to give us the European Perspective. So, to respond to your question on how the war in Ukraine affects all of us and Georgia, right now we all see that Russia is focusing on Ukraine. It is a devastating war and I have to say that we must do everything in order to stop this war,” said Irakli Gharibashvili.

Elaborating on the conflicts, the PM said the Georgian government followed the peaceful policy of conflicts resolution.

“There is no alternative to peace and I have to tell you that Georgia has been pursuing a peaceful resolution policy when it comes to the restoration of sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country. We have made it very clear that Georgia has a peaceful plan to restore its territorial integrity and I want to thank the OSCE, EU, US and other participants who have been actively involved in the mediation process. You mentioned the Geneva International Discussions. This is the only platform that we have right now with Russians. So, therefore I must repeat again that this war must be stopped.

We have seen the effect of this war in our country in 2008: a lot of people died and we lost control of our territories completely. As I said, Russia has military bases on our territory. It is ongoing. It does not stop. I also want to mention that since the 2008 War, we have not seen any sanctions that were imposed on Russia. On the contrary, we saw that business continued as usual.

Therefore, it was a very –let’s say – bad signal. To conclude, I think the international community must now decide how we move forward, because if this war continues, it means more devastation, more killings of civilians. So, therefore, I once again repeat that our intention – our main goal – has to be to stop this war,” Irakli Gharibashvili said.