Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister of Georgia, took part in a topical debate while in Bratislava to attend the Global Security Forum (GLOBSEC) from May 29 to May 31.

PM Garibashvili said that the sanctions on Russia would have a significant impact on the economy of Georgia. "The US State Department, EU institutions, and everyone else confirmed that Georgia completely complies with international financial sanctions," he added. "So, my point is, when we discussed this situation, we said we would fully align with international financial sanctions, and we are doing that. The situation is different when it comes to trading connections with Russia. This is one of the reasons. The EU, the US, and other nations do not stop trade relations. Why should Georgia be an exception? Another reason is that we were dissatisfied that the 2008 invasion of Georgia was not taken seriously at the time by the international community," he added. The Prime Minister mentioned that after the war, the EU gave Russia 2.5 trillion euros. The previous Georgian administration, according to Garibashvili, made an effort to thaw commercial and economic ties with Russia. "They established a visa-free policy for Russia [after the war] and sold energy infrastructure vital infrastructure assets to Russian state-owned firms. So, this is the situation as it is," he remarked.

According to the prime minister, the decision not to give candidate status to Georgia was made in an "unfair" and "unjustified" manner. He said, "What kind of message are you sending to Russia that we are sort of giving up on the country that is two to three times ahead of Moldova and Ukraine? If we're talking about a merit-based approach, Georgia was and is still two to three times ahead of both nations. Therefore, we would prefer to ask our European counterparts the same question regarding their decision not to grant Georgia status. Moldova and Ukraine were also given this priority, but they were granted status in advance. We have no answers, no reasoning. That is the distinction. As a result, we were unable to determine why. We only heard one reason, which was that Ukraine was at war. Additionally, we were at war in 2008, and Russia now occupies 20% of our country. What's the point then? Moldova is facing a challenging position. Therefore, I would say that there is no explanation. Therefore, it would be a grave error if Georgia did not receive this status by the end of this year."

Regarding Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, PM Garibashvili said: "Of sure, the conflict we are currently seeing in Ukraine is devastating. Thousands of people are dying every day." The Georgian Prime Minister said, "I think everyone knows the reason," in response to the moderator's question on why he believed Russia launched the conflict with Ukraine in 2022. "NATO's expansion was one of the primary causes," he added. "I don't want to guess, and I don't want to cite the Russian government, but one of the factors was Ukraine's strong desire to join NATO. So, we see the results," he added, adding that he did not perceive any effort or desire on any side to put a stop to the conflict. Focusing on the 2008 Georgia-Russia conflict, the PM added, "We respect everyone, we support Ukraine, we support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we want to see that peace is restored and that Ukraine's territorial integrity is restored very soon. But I want to talk about my country first. Despite having a well-trained and well-equipped army, Georgia still is a small nation. Therefore, I believe it is in the best interest of every government, especially when you're a small country and not a part of the EU or NATO when you have no security guarantees, but that war was devastating for us." Upon being questioned about whether the 2008 conflict constituted an act of unprovoked aggression, the Prime Minister responded, "I don't want to go into details because we have our own view," adding, "If we had been in the government, if our government had been in power, I think, we would have done everything possible to avoid that war."