TBILISI, October 12 – Georgia is working to persuade Russia to reverse new restrictions on products from several major Georgian companies, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Monday.
“We are looking into this issue and hope that this decision will be changed. We are working on it,” Kobakhidze told reporters.
Russia introduced the restrictions on October 9 under what its federal supervisory service described as a temporary sanitary measure covering the import and circulation of food products.
The measure affects Teliani Valley, Tbilvino, Askaneli Brothers, Wineman, Georgian Beer Company, Coca-Cola and Nabeghlavi.
The government has not publicly said how it is trying to get the decision changed.
Later Monday, political analyst Gia Khukhashvili argued that the latest restrictions showed the risks of relying heavily on the Russian market. He described the move as pressure from Moscow and said Georgian companies should concentrate on finding other export markets instead.
“There is no getting things sorted out with Russia. Today you will earn two pennies, but tomorrow you will lose ten times as much,” he said.
He urged Georgian wine producers to diversify. “Leave the Russian market alone, find someone who knows English and send them to another market. Forget Russia, develop new markets, otherwise you will always be in this trouble,” Khukhashvili said.
Russia also introduced an embargo on some Georgian products in 2006, after Tbilisi expelled four Russian diplomats who it accused of spying. Those restrictions were lifted in 2013 after Georgian Dream came to power.
