Speaking at an event hosted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) on June 8, Jim O'Brien, the head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the US State Department, who was speaking about the sanctions on Russia, said that Georgia had been named as one of the five nations that are contributing to the circumvention issue. When asked which nations participate in this circumvention, O'Brien provided the following list: Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, and Armenia.

"O'Brien brought up the problem of European businesses exporting products to other nations who then resale them to Russia. By the beginning of 2023, thanks to this practice, Russia will be able to reimport essential electronics categories at prices comparable to those before the conflict, giving it access to the chips, processors, and integrated circuits necessary to produce new weapons. It is a significant issue. I am traveling to Kazakhstan for that reason. That is the reason I'm traveling to Georgia, Armenia, and other locations," O'Brien continued.

As previously reported by Caucasus Watch, on May 22, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said that any act, be it visa regime, closing state borders, or ban on flights, is a sanction, which means that the country enters escalation with Russia.