The Motives and the Consequences of Georgia's Joining the Sanctions against Russia

• 07.31.2015, 15:40
•  Region

Georgia joined the EU imposed sanctions against Russia. This is said in the adopted declaration "Restrictive measures related to the situation in Crimea and Sevastopol". Six more countries joined the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions. "Candidate Countries Albania and Montenegro, EFTA members Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as Ukraine and Georgia join to this statement," the declaration says.

It is easier to understand the joining of European countries to the anti-Russian sanctions, but there are a number of issues concerning the decision of Georgian side. It is noteworthy that before that, in spite of various calls both from the country, as well as from other countries to join the sanctions, Georgia's government managed to avoid this problem. On April 28, during his visit to the Czech Republic the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili announced that the isolation of Russia should not be considered as a way to resolve the crisis in Ukraine and stressed: "Alienated Russia will be more aggressive, unpredictable and dangerous." What has changed during this period?

Georgia's decision to join the sanctions against Russia can be motivated with the following possible reasons: first, we can assume that the EU applied pressure. Over a year-long anti-Russian sanctions have not yielded any substantial results, but at the same time there is a necessity to show the European community that the process is not stagnant. The best solution for that is the expanding the list of countries that imposed sanctions. Apparently, Georgia is one of those countries, and the country which is on the path of European integration, could not refuse the request of its European partners. Another additional motivator was the joining of Ukraine to the sanctions. It is not a secret that there is a competition between the leaders of the Eastern Partnership program and, of course, Georgia could not afford Ukraine "to be more dedicated" to Europe than it is.

We cannot exclude that the incidents related to border banners also had their impact on the decision of Tbilisi.

Despite the various motives, Georgian authorities are clearly aware that Russia will not let this step unanswered. The Kremlin has already reiterated that in case of sanctions they will use the principle of reciprocity, which means that Georgia will also not manage to avoid the sanctions. Though Russian-Georgian economic relations are not on high level, after the lifting of some  embargoes Georgia had the opportunity to return to the Russian market, which was positively reflected in our neighboring country's economy. If Russia imposes retaliatory sanctions, Georgian producers will again lose a large market, which will have a negative impact on the economic indicators of Georgia.