Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili has said that Georgia’s decision to avoid direct involvement in military actions against Russia helped preserve the country’s stability and sovereignty.

Botchorishvili defended the government’s foreign policy choices since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, arguing that Georgia faced immense pressure to take a different path, The Caspian Post reports via Imedi.ge.

“We did not ruin anything. We protected ourselves. We protected our country,” she said. “Georgia could have disappeared altogether if it had become involved in military actions. No one knows where we would be today. It is hard to imagine that any of us would be sitting here peacefully and talking.”

The foreign minister said the ruling government chose not to sacrifice national interests for what she described as “abstract issues,” emphasizing that preserving peace and statehood remained the country’s top priority.

Botchorishvili also claimed that some external actors found it difficult to accept Georgia’s refusal to join military actions or follow a course that, in her view, would have assigned the country a different geopolitical role.

The minister said that Georgia’s leadership resisted pressure despite being a small country facing significant regional challenges.

The debate over Georgia’s position intensified after former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced in February 2022 that Tbilisi would not impose sanctions on Russia, citing national interests. The decision drew criticism from both Ukraine and Georgia’s domestic opposition, which accused the government of being too accommodating toward Moscow.