As for the question about Russia’s recent move to resume direct flights with Georgia,  David O’Sullivan responded that “the Georgia authorities have assured us that to the extent there are new entry points created; they will indeed make sure that there are the same strict controls that these new entry points as at the existing.”

“Any crossing point is a potential weak spot in sanctions implementation of course. But I don’t think this is a weaker spot here in Georgia than it is in any other country which has a land border. Maybe it’s not as like a political violation, but what risks do we save here in economics? We have no desire to undermine or prevent the legitimate trade between Georgia and Russia. There are many products which are not sanctioned particularly, for example, in the agricultural area. There is no reason why these exports should not continue.

As for the medium to long term, I fear that the prospects of the Russian economy are not particularly promising in light of the impact of the sanctions. And I do think that the sanctions will remain in place for quite some time even if we were to imagine an early cessation of hostilities, which doesn’t seem particularly lightly at the moment, I have to say, unfortunately, there will be so many other issues to be resolved with Russia, that in my view, these sanctions are going to be here for five, 10 years. And we’re all going to have to learn to live with managing that. And this is ultimately going to slow down the Russian economy and see a shrinking of the Russian economy unfortunately, and a loss of prosperity for the Russian people. But that is a consequence of the political choices, which Mr. Putin has made.

I’m not here to advise the Georgian government or Georgian businesses as to where their future prospects best lie. What is clear to me is that if you look to the future, I think trade with Europe offers a better perspective than trade with Russia. I repeat both on the issue of dual-use and on the issue of the 38 Battlefield products, we are very satisfied with the systems of checking and monitoring, which the Georgian authorities have put in place to make sure that these products do not find their way to Russia from this country,” - David O'Sullivan told the reporter.