Speaker Papuashvili: EU funds benefit Russia more than Ukraine, yet they pressure us to shut everything down

“For four years, we heard that they had Russia under isolation, that there was no contact whatsoever, no trade, then we gradually discovered that they had been trading with Russia, that they were paying more money into Russia’s economy than in aid to Ukraine, that apparently Lithuania and Estonia got rich selling alcohol to Russia. Countries that don’t produce a single drop of wine were exporting more alcohol to Russia than Georgia,” the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has stated.

According to Papuashvili, we have seen the policy of resetting relations with Russia from major countries on numerous occasions in recent decades.

“I’m not even mentioning what has happened historically. The Europeans pressured us; we were supposed to be part of the ring of fire, shut everything down, the border, the skies, cut ourselves off, and stand on the brink of war. What potential would we then have had for restoring relations and renewed dialogue? We would have been a destroyed country, reduced to rubble, like Ukraine is now. What restoration of relations? The country would have been wiped out. This is what we were supposed to believe from the Europeans at that time, who were supposedly isolating Russia and are now talking about starting dialogue again,” Papuashvili stated.

Moreover, Papuashvili spoke about the European Union’s decision to provide a loan to Ukraine.

“They will provide Ukraine with a loan of 90 billion euros, which is slightly over 100 billion dollars. Annually, this amounts to approximately 50 billion dollars in loans and aid to Ukraine. Ukraine’s budget is around 100 billion, so essentially, half of it is in deficit. Arakhamia states that the peace agreement from April 2022 has been acceptable to Ukraine. However, this agreement was undermined by the Europeans. We recall Boris Johnson visiting Kyiv, and Ukrainian officials themselves have said that, at his urging, the agreement was ultimately sabotaged. This was irresponsible. From the very beginning, it was clear they would not be able to agree on the seizure of Russia’s sovereign assets. Yet, they fostered the impression for Ukraine that such a decision was imminent.

In the end, the European Union now finds itself in need to take out loans. As a result, one sector is certain to come out ahead: the financial sector. The EU will now borrow 90 billion euros from this sector, and the leading companies involved are already well known to everyone. Hopefully, this war is nearing its end. As the war ends, it becomes clear what map of financial benefit, what damage, and what geopolitical map is being laid out,” Papuashvili noted.