Good evening. Thank you very much for being here. My great pleasure to find myself in Tbilisi, I was here as you know with US and UK colleagues, visiting the Georgian authorities. I think, it’s probably useful to give you general context, I think you know it.

Since Russia’s illegal full-scale, and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the international community has put in place an unprecedented level of sanctions. The purpose of these sanctions is to undermine Russia’s ability to wage this war, to deprive the Russian government of the revenue to wage this war, and to impose a heavy economic cost on Russia generally for this brutal and unprovoked war, which they’re now waging.

We are particularly looking now at the question of possible circumvention of our sanctions. And, in particular, we are focused on 38 battlefield products, which are found on the battlefield by the Ukrainians, and which are used to make Russian weapons more lethal, smarter, and more deadly. And we are particularly concerned if there’s any circumvention of the sanctions on these products. This has led us to visit a range of countries in the last few months, sometimes together, sometimes separately, and we found ourselves, in the last two days, here in Georgia.

I have to say that Georgia, of course, is not implementing these sanctions. We are, perhaps, disappointed that is not the case, as a country, which has aspirations to be a member of the European Union, we would ultimately like a high degree of alignment also on foreign policy. But we also understand the very specific situation in which Georgia finds itself both economically, in terms of geography, and in terms of close contacts with Russia in many ways. So, we understand that they’re not going to implement our sanctions. But, I have to say that what we have seen over the last two days has confirmed to us that the Georgian authorities are taking very seriously the issue of not allowing this country to be used as a platform for circumvention. And they have put in place significant measures of controlling the exports, of possible export from Georgia of the most sensitive 38 products, and the same is true across financial sanctions, where they have put in place very close vigilance.

And we are frankly impressed with the measures which they have taken. I want to make it clear that we come here in a spirit of partnership and cooperation. Particularly from the European Union, we have an important bilateral agenda between Georgia and the European Union, whom we hope someday to welcome as a member of the European Union. And this issue of sanctions, which is going to be with us frankly for probably quite a long time, we have to avoid that this becomes an irritant or an obstacle to the development of our closer bilateral relations.

I’m happy to say that what we’ve seen over the last few days leads me to conclude that for the moment that is absolutely not the case, and I see no reason why that should change. So, this has been a very useful visit, very productive, and, as I say, we leave with a generally very positive impression of the manner in which the Georgian authorities are making sure that this country is not used as a platform for circumvention of European Union sanctions.”

Thank you very much.

Q & A

Please note, that questions by journalists were not audible and some of them were interpreted from Georgian into English.

Mtavari TV: Could you confirm that there was not a single case of sanctions evasion.

David O’Sullivan: I would love to be able to say that there’s anywhere where there’s not a single case of sanctions evasion. Whether there are sanctions, there is evasion. What I can say is that the measures which have been put in place here are a very solid guarantee that circumvention will not take place.

Georgian Public Broadcasting: Based what you have said, Georgia makes serious steps to implement sanctions. But very frequently there are accusations from internal political circle, that Georgia on purpose helps Russia to circumvent sanctions. What can you say about it?

David O’Sullivan: Georgia for the reasons I have already mentioned is not aligning with our sanctions, is not implementing our sanctions but from what we have been able to see over the last two days Georgia is taking very seriously it's commitment not to allow its territory to be used for the circumvention of sanctions whether that is trade in goods particularly the 38 Battlefield products or financial services.

Mtavari TV: Does Georgia circumvent sanctions or were there any attempts to do it. Should there be any sanctions against former PM, Bidzina Ivanishvili, as well as his close circle, as there was information on very close relations of Ivanishvili and sanctioned Russian oligarch, Evtushenkov.

David O’Sullivan: In response here, first question I can only repeat what I’ve said which is that Georgia is making every effort necessary to make sure that this country is not used as a platform for circumvention and we have every reason to believe that they will continue with those efforts. With regard to the second question, frankly I don't comment on the sanctioning of individuals. These decisions are taken eventually by our member states unanimously and I have no comment to make.

Radio Liberty: What do you think about Russia’s recent move to resume direct flights with Georgia, in connection with evading of sanctions.

David O’Sullivan: I mean, there are various ways in which people can try to evade sanctions, whether that’s at customs points or false declarations. And the Georgian authorities have put in place, as I say very impressive measures of trying to monitor this and make sure that it doesn’t happen. On the issue of direct flights all I can say that of course, if you multiply the number of entry points, from Russia into Georgia, then you need to increase vigilance at each of those entry points and the Georgian authorities have assured us that to the extent there are new entry points created, they will indeed make sure that there are the same strict controls at these new entry points as at the existing.

Mtavari TV: Can we say that the land border is the weakest spot?

David O’Sullivan: Any crossing point is a potential weak spot in sanctions implementation of course. But I don’t think this is a weaker spot here in Georgia than it is in any other country which has a land border.

Formula TV: We will ask you about circumvention of sanctions from economical point of view.  During last months an export to Russia from Georgia and our region (Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) increased a lot. Maybe from legal point of view it’s not circumvention of sanctions, but they can use Georgian territory. War in Ukraine ay and soon, but sanctions will continue. Now when dependence of Georgian government and business on Russian economy is quite high, connections are tight, what risks could we see here for economics?

David O’Sullivan: We have no desire to undermine or prevent the legitimate trade between Georgia and Russia. There are many products, which are not sanctioned particularly, for example, in the agricultural area. There is no reason why these exports should not continue. As for the medium to long term, I fear that the prospects of the Russian economy are not particularly promising in light of the impact of the sanctions. And I do think that the sanctions will remain in place for quite some time even if we were to imagine an early cessation of hostilities, which doesn’t seem particularly lightly at the moment, I have to say, unfortunately, there will be so many other issues to be resolved with Russia, that in my view, these sanctions are going to be here for five, ten years. And we’re all going to have to learn to live with managing that. And this is ultimately going to slow down the Russian economy and see a shrinking of the Russian economy unfortunately, and a loss of prosperity for the Russian people. But that is a consequence of the political choices, which Mr. Putin has made.

Business Formula: What are your recommendations for Georgia, when Russian economy will collapse, how to survive impact of it?

David O’Sullivan: I’m not here to advise the Georgian government or Georgian businesses as to where their future prospects best lie. What is clear to me is that if you look to the future, I think trade with Europe offers a better perspective than trade with Russia.

Mtavari TV: What about dual-use products

I repeat both on the issue of dual-use and on the issue of the 38 battlefield products, we are very satisfied with the systems of checking and monitoring, which the Georgian authorities have put in place to make sure that these products do not find their way to Russia from this country.

TV Pirveli: There are direct cargo transfers to Russia from Lars checkpoint. What is the risk for Georgia, when it is actually assisting its enemy country?

David O’Sullivan: I repeat that we do not wish to interfere with the legitimate trade between Georgia and Russia that is a matter for Georgian business and for the Georgian government. Our concern relates to sanction products and particularly products, which can find their way to the Russian military and increase the ability of the Russian military to kill innocent Ukrainians.

Tabula: Several days ago, the Head of Russia’s Federal Customs Service said that Russia is breaking through the Western economic blockade, noting the special role of the Upper Lars checkpoint with Georgia. Would it bring any consequences to Georgia?

David O’Sullivan: I can only repeat what I’ve said, the Georgian government have given strong assurances that they do not wish to be a platform for circumvention and what we have been able to see over the last day or two is that they have put in place measures to make sure that that does not happen.

Euronews: What is position of Georgian government on joining sanctions against Russia, as our country has aspirations to become EU member state?  

David O’Sullivan: I am not here explicitly to discuss that issue, I simply want to remind because I think it is important that part of joining the European Union as a country requires those countries to align also with our common foreign and security policy including the issue of sanctions. Georgia is not yet a candidate country, is not yet a member of the European Union but they are hoping to embark on that process and therefore that is something which we would wish to see progressively change over time. But for today our concern is about circumvention of existing sanctions which Georgia is not legally applying but which it is ensuring that this country is not used as a platform for circumvention and on that we have received very reassuring information.

BMG: It might be very technical question on increase of export of luxury cars to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries. Does sanctions apply to Georgia directly, when the destination point is Russia?

David O’Sullivan: On the issue of the newly introduced sanctions on automobiles, if people in Georgia were to be importing European automobiles with a view to selling them to Russia that would indeed be a circumvention. We have no evidence that that is the case for the moment, but I think the Georgian authorities are alerted to this issue, and we will be following closely how this develops in the coming weeks and months.

Formula TV: We know that one of the challenges was export of electronic devices. What are main devices that raise concern?

David O’Sullivan: What are those 38 products entail, mentioning electronic components, integrated circuits, chips, flash, memory cards, and in some cases, camera, and vision equipment, which the Ukrainian authorities have found on the battlefield in missiles, drones, and shells, and which we, therefore, wish to make sure no longer find their way to Russia so that they can be used in lethal weapons to kill innocent Ukrainians. That is the purpose of this list, and that is why we are particularly focused on circumvention in this area.

Tabula asked about consumer products

David O’Sullivan: The issue of consumer products is frankly, less urgent. Other list we have is the economically critical goods, which are mainly industrial goods, which can be used to support the Russian military effort, but not directly in the form of weapons. But this is why we’re focused on these 38 products, which do find their way into lethal weapons. And we wish, absolutely wish to stop this lethal trade.

Thank you all very much.