During the formal news conference in Moscow on January 18, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, answered a query from the Georgian ultra-right, pro-Russian media and political movement Alt-Info.

David Akhvlediani from Alt-Info asked Lavrov, "Since the start of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, we have all seen that it is really a confrontation of the collective West with Russia and not only. Smaller countries in the region, including Georgia, have also found themselves in a difficult situation. By doing so, the West is trying to undermine the cultural sovereignty of small countries and gain control over them, and the goal of this globalist policy is to sacrifice these small countries for its own political interests. In these circumstances, does Russia have a clear strategy against the West’s destructive cultural expansion, and whether this implies cooperation with countries that might be natural allies in defending conservative values?"

Lavrov answered: "We are forced to reciprocate when our journalists, our political scientists, our politicians, who are known and can tell the truth to foreign audiences, are sanctioned, we are forced to reciprocate, but it is not our choice at all. Even during the Cold War, both Soviet and American academics met regularly. They discussed pressing issues of the day. Now there is practically no such possibility, and I will just say that sometimes representatives of political science think tanks in the West address me just timidly, through completely unofficial channels. They ask me if it would be possible to organize a seminar somewhere on neutral territory and if your and our scholars would go there."

"We are building relations with Georgia for Abkhazia and South Ossetia [Tskhinvali Region], there are mechanisms of dialogue in which we are also involved. The Georgian side put forward a project of joint economic activities quite a long time ago, proposing to build confidence through this. These are all very, very useful things. It is true that now western participants of the so-called Geneva international discussions between Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia – it is the EU, UN, OSCE, and USA – they somehow try to make this format of dialogue hostage to the events around Ukraine as well. This is indecent, I think, unprofessional. It means that they do specific tasks in a particular region, conditioning them to their political grievances and caprices," he added.

Lavrov emphasized, "I am glad we have people-to-people contacts with Georgia actively developing. Last year, I was told that Georgia's GDP grew by 10% last year, largely due to tourism and trade relations with the Russian Federation. Hopefully, we will have direct flights again soon."

"But we see to what extent Georgia and virtually all countries are experiencing pressure from the West to join sanctions against Russia openly and publicly. And the fact that a small country and its government have the courage to say – we will be guided by our interests, by the interests of our economy – commands respect," he concluded.