Georgian Vice PM, Culture Minister Tea Tsulukiani, who had served as the country’s Justice Minister, has responded to Kyiv’s allegations that Russia is using Georgia for smuggling to circumvent sanctions, stating that this is a “dirty lie,” and pointed at former United National Movement (UNM) officials who are wanted and currently hold high posts in Ukraine.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and Vice PM Iryna Vereshchuk stated yesterday that Russia was setting up smuggling channels that pass through Georgia, the claims which the Georgian Dream government strongly dismissed.

"I want to tell Ms. Vereshchuk, dear colleague, I want to assure you that Georgian borders are controlled. An official statement has already been made by the Ministry of Finance of Georgia as our borders are well-controlled to ensure that any sanctioned, be it military, dual-use material or goods, not to go beyond strict customs monitoring. This is reality, everything else is a dirty lie,” Tsulukiani said today.

She stated that it was not a fault of the Georgian government that Ukraine has turned into a sanctuary for former Georgian officials who had fled the country not to go to prison for the crimes they committed while in office. 

Tsulukiani said that it was hard to make a difference between good and evil during the war, but she wished the Ukrainian authorities not to be provoked by such former Georgian officials “who are refusing to be held accountable for the atrocities they had committed towards their people.”

She instead advised the Ukrainian government to cooperate with Georgian authorities “who are elected by the Georgian people via democratic elections, as the Georgian people and the government are devoted friends to Ukraine and they prove this through their everyday activities.”

The Georgian State Security Service has demanded  evidence by Kyiv for their allegations which the former says are groundless.