TBILISI, December 7. /TASS/. Georgian authorities will not provide military aid to Ukraine because they do not want to be a party to the conflict, the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told journalists on Wednesday.
"As for military assistance [to Ukraine], we clearly stated that we won’t do this. We, as a state, will never get involved in <...> the conflict. This is our clear position," he said.
The head of the government added that there have been repeated requests both openly and behind closed doors to open the "second front" but the republic’s leadership would not do this.
Ukraine’s temporary charge d'affaires in Georgia, Andrey Kasyanov, said earlier on Tuesday that Kiev had asked Tbilisi multiple times to provide military or dual-purpose equipment, but the requests went unanswered.
Tensions between Kiev and Tbilisi emerged after on February 25, Garibashvili said that the former Soviet country would not join the US-led West’s financial and economic sanctions against Russia because of the situation in Ukraine, as they would backfire on Georgia, causing a far more serious impact. In early March, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced the recall of the Ukrainian envoy to Georgia "for [Tbilisi's] immoral position on sanctions" and for preventing the authorities from sending Georgian volunteers to Ukraine. Later, Ukraine repeatedly accused Georgia of helping Russia circumvent the restrictions that had been imposed on the country.