Russia has threatened to add Georgia to its list of “unfriendly countries” should it join the European Union. Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID), stated this during a press conference.
“Russia would have to include — I am not saying we want to do this — but, given the new EU requirements, we would have to include Georgia in the list of countries with unfriendly regimes and extend our retaliatory economic measures to it, with all the resulting consequences for Georgian producers of mineral water, fruit, wine, and everything else imported into our country,” Zakharova was quoted as saying by TASS.
She also stated that the Russian side finds it unclear how Tbilisi can aspire to join a bloc whose members impose sanctions against Georgia “for absolutely nothing,” which “provoke it into new anti-Russian military adventures,” almost openly support attempts to organize a coup d’état in Georgia, and impose “alien anti-values” on the Georgian people, “literally forcing them, including through financial and economic levers, to abandon their own culture and identity.”