Transit of goods to Russia through Georgia grew at a record high in 2022

2022 was a record year for the number of heavy vehicles (trailers) that drove along the highways of Georgia, primarily from Armenia and Turkey to Russia. This is evidenced Georgian State Treasury datapublished on January 23rd.

So, if in 2021 the so-called. 332,070 trailers passed through the median corridor (through the territory of Georgia), then during 2022 already 448,335 vehicles. According to the same government agency, 1,300 trailers traveled daily on the roads of Georgia in 2022. And in December – already 1520, that is, the process is developing “according to increasing dynamics.”

Assessing the situation, the government of Irakli Garibashvili has raised the transit fee for one trailer from 200 lari (about $75) to 350 lari (a little over $131) since June. Accordingly, budget revenues from transit have also increased significantly: from 66.4 million lari ($24 million) in 2021 to 128 million lari (more than $48 million) in 2022.

The transit from Turkey to the Russian Federation causes concern for the Western partners of the Caucasian country. The New York Times recently published an article on this subject. CNN host Christiane Amanpour, relying on the mentioned article, asked the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to comment on the behavior of the Georgian authorities in connection with Western sanctions. The clerk declined to answer.

Nevertheless, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, sharply criticized the journalist, demanding that Georgian diplomacy “an adequate response to lies.” He stated that Georgia does not supply goods to the Russian Federation in circumvention of sanctions.

At the same time, Mr. Kobakhidze operated on the figures of a “slight increase” in the export of Georgian products to the Russian Federation – by 7% in 2022. He pointed out that if Georgia violated the sanctions regime, then exports would increase significantly. Note that Christian Amanpour, like the authors of the publication in the NYT, spoke not about exports, but about transit.

However, Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili made it clear at a special briefing for journalists that Tbilisi “exchanges information with the United States and the European Union on a daily basis”, therefore “no one has reason to suspect that sanctions are not properly observed in Georgia.”

Giorgi Dvali, Tbilisi