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.

The speaker supposed that responsive measures would follow the imposition of sanctions threatening the country's security. According to Papuashvili, the question of sanctions was debated multiple times, and the opposition recognized that sanctioning Russia would not serve the country's interests and would lead to escalation. "In turn, escalation implies that we are entering a spiral result that cannot be foreseen. Counter sanctions and responsive measures might follow that would threaten our country’s security and economic prosperity," he said.

Georgian Parliament Speaker reminded that Russian troops were deployed 30 kilometers from Georgia’s capital Tbilisi. "There is a great risk that Russia turns onto an annexation policy. Therefore, those who propose imposing sanctions on Russia – introducing visas, closing borders, air space, and flight bans, tell us to take a risk and enter the escalation with Russia and possible military confrontation, respectively. And more important is that those who urge us for sanctions give no security or economic guarantees," Papuashvili stated.