On April 4, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reported that Russia is creating channels for smuggling sanctioned military and other products, which will pass through the territory of Georgia with the consent of the Georgian Government.

According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the Georgian political leadership instructed the special services not to interfere with Russian smuggling. In addition, the Main Directorate of Intelligence said that the possibility of resuming air traffic between Russia and Georgia was also being considered.

The smuggling accusation was soon dismissed by the Georgian Finance Ministry. As the Ministry said in a statement, any type of goods and products that are included in the list of sanctions are subject to strict customs control by the Georgian Government.

The Ukrainian intelligence report was shortly responded to by the Speaker of Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili too, who called the information a lie and noted that "misinformation from a partner country was totally unacceptable".

The following day, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) released a separate statement in connection with Ukrainian intelligence information. SSG called on Ukraine to immediately provide proof of information disseminated by its military intelligence service. Georgia's Security Service also said that its representatives held a meeting at Ukrainian Embassy after the release of the Ukrainian intelligence, where they exchanged information and inquired about the grounds for disseminating such reports.

"We would like to remind the Ukrainian side that the exchange of such information is stipulated in a number of interstate agreements," the SSG noted in its statement.

Ukrainian military intelligence reports were also followed by international reactions. According to former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, If reports are true, this bodes badly for any kind of EU or US support for Georgia. Michael Gahler from European Parliament expressed hope that the accusation of bypassing the sanctions is wrong. "We need a very clear statement from the Georgian government where they stand - with the EU and Ukraine or clandestinely with the Putin regime," MEP tweeted.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price was also among those commenting on Ukrainian reports. In response to the question, Price said that he was not in a position to substantiate or to speak to the allegation. The spokesperson noted that without speaking to any particular country, the US made clear that those who seek to circumvent sanctions will face consequences.

"We have seen the people of Georgia, the Government of Georgia, stand with the international community, including in important votes in the UN, in opposition to what we are seeing the Kremlin undertake in Ukraine. We’ve been in close contact with our colleagues in Georgia on the ongoing situation and will continue to be in close contact with them," Ned Price noted.

For the record, Georgia-Ukraine relations have been particularly strained lately. At the early stage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Georgia's PM Irakli Gharibashvili stated that Tbilisi was not going to join sanctions against Moscow. This was followed by Ukraine recalling its Ambassador from Georgia for consultations. As Zelensky himself explained, the step was due to Tbilisi's "immoral position" on the issue of imposing sanctions. While clarifying the decision, Zelensky also noted that the Georgian side prevented the departure of volunteers to Ukraine.

On March 31, Zelensky announced that he was officially recalling Ambassador from Georgia, as well as Morocco. As the Ukrainian President said, ambassadors who can not manage that the countries where they have represented help Ukraine on the one hand and impose sanctions on Russia on the other, should look for a new job.