Shalva Papuashvili: Russia’s decision concerns several companies and not wine and other beverages in general - Surprising! The authorities will clarify the matter and hopefully the position will change - the interpretations of various actors are separate interpretations

As we have learned, this decision has been taken with regard to several companies and not with regard to wine and other beverages in general. Surprising! The grounds are unclear to us, therefore the authorities will, of course, clarify this issue, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili stated regarding Russia’s temporary restriction on the import of products from certain Georgian companies.

According to Papuashvili, the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture has the opportunity to clarify the matter with the Russian Federation.

“As we have learned, it concerns several companies and not wine and other beverages in general. That is, as it appears, this decision has been taken in connection with several companies. Surprising! The grounds are unclear to us, therefore the authorities will, of course, clarify this issue and let us see – hopefully the decision will be changed, because in this case the grounds are also incomprehensible to us. The interpretations that we have heard from various actors are separate interpretations, but we have not heard any official grounds. The Ministry of Agriculture has the opportunity to clarify the matter with the Russian Federation.

In general, for a country that is in such a geopolitical situation as Georgia, many things generate risks – not only trade with Russia, but, as you see, trade with the European Union also contains risks: they demand sanctions, we have seen threats related to the port of Kulevi, so there are risks in every market. World politics is not arranged in such a way that countries are in friendly cooing with one another. Approaches in international politics are very strict and pragmatic. So there are risks on the Russian market, there are risks on the EU market; we see that in one place tariffs are rising, in another sanctions are being imposed, in a fourth place they want to close borders. What is important for us is to act based on the interests of our people and economic actors – wherever Georgian business has the opportunity for its business to be most profitable, that is where it should operate – not by political decisions, as they used to tell us: refuse the Russian market. We were right in that it is important not to have a policy of escalation, because when you have an open economy and trade with various countries, many countries have levers, and not only Russia. Exactly that is the whole purpose of the policy – to have such a balanced policy that, on the one hand, will not give anyone a pretext to use levers and, on the other, will allow your business to operate as profitably as possible, and the Georgian authorities ensure this,” Papuashvili stated.

For information: Russia is banning the import of products from certain Georgian companies. The Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance is publishing a letter about this.

According to the document dated 9 October, it is written that from 9 October 2026 a temporary sanitary measure has been introduced with the aim of suspending the import and circulation of food products in the Russian Federation.

The ban concerns the following companies: “Teliani Valley”; “Tbilgvino”; “Dzma Askaneli”; “Wineman”; “Georgian Beer Company”; “Coca-Cola”; “Nabeghlavi”.