TBILISI, December 4. /TASS/. Georgian authorities could have faced economic collapse if they had obeyed calls from the opposition and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to impose sanctions against Russia, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili told reporters.
"If we had chosen a different policy, which was dictated to us by the opposition and several rich NGOs, if we had followed the path of sanctions (against Russia - TASS), today we would have had an economic collapse, impoverishment of society, a 20% decline in the economy. I’m not even talking about the risks of military confrontation and escalation," Papuashvili said.
On February 25, 2022, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced that he does not plan to introduce sanctions against Russia, explaining this by national interests. At the beginning of March last year, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky recalled the ambassador from Tbilisi because of the position of the Georgian authorities on sanctions. This decision of the Georgian government was also criticized by the opposition, accusing the republican authorities of collaborating with Russia.