TBILISI, December 9. /TASS/. The European Union urged Georgia to sever trade ties with Russia after the start of hostilities in Ukraine in 2022 while its individual member-countries continue to do business with it, Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia Shalva Papuashvili told reporters.
"The European Union reprimanded us as to why Georgian farmers sell wine to Russia and why Georgia buys wheat from Russia," he said. "It turned out later that Lithuania, which does not make wine, exports wine to Russia in large volumes, larger than we do. And Estonia was the top whiskey exporter [to Russia]. Do you know of any whiskey distilleries in Estonia or any Estonian whiskey brands?" Papuashvili said.
Georgia was pressured to butt heads with Russia, which would have been followed by a collapse of the Georgian economy, the speaker said. He claimed that the Georgian economy would have contracted by 10-15% in such a case.