US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, in response to a question about the visit to Georgia by the head of the US State Department’s Sanctions Coordination Office, James O’Brien, said that the US is concerned about any country that is trying to circumvent the sanctions imposed against Russia.
– The last question is about Georgia. Ambassador O’Brien is traveling to Tbilisi with his European and British counterparts to discuss sanctions. The administration recently expressed concern that Georgia, along with other countries, is helping Russia evade sanctions. The question is why now and what tools of influence do you have?
I don’t want to talk about these possibilities in detail. What I can say for sure is that we are concerned about any country that helps Russia evade sanctions and other restrictive measures that we have imposed on it. We are always looking for ways to tighten sanctions or impose more stringent measures against individuals or entities that try to avoid them. However, it would be inappropriate to talk about it in detail now.
James O’Brien will visit Tbilisi today, June 27. The delegation also includes EU Special Representative for Sanctions David O’Sullivan and Kumar Iyer from the UK Foreign Office.
During the visit, meetings will be held with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Foreign Minister Ilya Darchiashvili, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Levan Davitashvili, Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili, First Vice President of the National Bank Natia Turnava and Prosecutor General Irakli Shotadze.
The Embassy of the United States of America has already responded to the visit of James O’Brien to Georgia. He will visit Tbilisi to discuss with representatives of the Georgian authorities the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia and their effective implementation, the embassy said in a statement.
