I would like to provide information to the public about how air, land and sea transport is used in coordination with the Georgian and Russian special services to circumvent sanctions, reads another address of the former deputy head of the Security Service, Soso Gogashvili.

As Soso Gogashvili points out, the State Security Service, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are involved in ensuring the movement of illegal and contraband goods.

"I want to provide information to the public about how Georgian and Russian special services use air, land and sea transport in order to circumvent sanctions and how this well-organized and protected system works. My former service - the State Security Service, as well as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy (air, sea and land agencies) are involved in ensuring the movement of illegal and contraband cargo. It is very difficult to control this from the outside, as this is a closed system, although some cases of illegal shipments have become public. I am referring to the fact of the arrival of a ship belonging to a sanctined company in the port of Georgia, which was made public recently. Years ago, in about 2017, we received information from our foreign partners about two tankers coming to Poti from Russia. The documents were to be changed, as if they were going from Georgia. In fact, the ship was 80% full of ammonium nitrate, the rest was to be filled in Georgia and sent to Bashar al-Assad in Syria through a port in Lebanon. Two more trucks entered from Larsi, reportedly loaded with prohibited cargo to be taken to Iran. We were forced to return these shipments because the above information had been provided by foreigners and we could not leave it without a response. I corresponded with Giorgi Gakharia regarding the tankers, who was the Minister of Economy at that time, and we together sent them back. The safe movement of these cargoes was ensured by the officers of the Georgian and Russian law enforcement agencies in coordination with each other and other relevant agencies.

How this scheme was developed: in 2016, on the instructions of Ivanishvili, I arrived at Vladikavkaz at the secret FSB base, because after the replacement of Gharibashvili, there was a break in communication and it was necessary to introduce the leadership of the newly created service, the State Security Service. I was accompanied by my driver, as well as Soso Chelidze and Irakli Chimakadze. We went by my office car. I was met at the base by General Sedov, who met only me. The meeting lasted 30 minutes, and we planned a meeting between our superiors (Bortnikov and Gomelauri). The purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship between lower-level contact officers, to select suitable reliable persons, to connect them with each other, as well as to provide safe corridors for illegal and smuggled cargo, to grant Georgian citizenship to Russian citizens on their recommendation, to help start a business, and to illegally transfer Russian citizens staying in Georgia to Russia, namely those who were undesirable persons in Russia. Then, as planned, a meeting of our superiors was scheduled, which took place in the same city and lasted for 3 hours. I was not at that meeting. My boss, Vakhtang Gomelauri, first went by car, but there was a delay on the road due to snow and he turned back. He called me from the road and through Nino Giorgobiani, I prepared an Airzena plane - a Boeing 737. The plane failed to land the first time and made several circles to land at the Vladikavkaz airport. I controlled this flight with the flight radar application. After this meeting, our contact officers Chimakadze and Chelidze visited Moscow several times through Minsk. The names of the officers from the other side were Slava and Vadim. After these meetings, in November 2017, we hosted two FSB Generals in Georgia, Sedov and Beseda. The meeting with them and the dinner were prepared conspiratorially in the restaurant owned by Vakhtang Gomelauri in Mtskheta. The service staff consisted of my employees. The conversation was mainly about successful relationships. Then we visited the Metekhi Cathedral. A farewell dinner was hosted in the Underwheel restaurant on Mtatsminda. In December of the same year, we arrived in Minsk by official invitation, where Vakhtang Gomelauri and Bortnikov met again. I do not know the content of the conversation.

As I mentioned above, this system has been working properly and safely to this day. Whenever there is any cargo to be transported, notifications are sent to the patrol police and the customs department in order to ensure that they are not checked. Sometimes the cargo passes without being reported at the border at all. This system is still working today. Now the new head of the Security Service, Grigol Liluashvili, is in coordination, who organizes all this through reliable officers," Soso Gogashvili says in his statement.