International Scandal Brewing Between Armenia and Georgia

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports: Georgia has found a new way to obstruct the entry of Armenian brandy into Russia by stopping transit cargoes under the pretext of conducting laboratory checks. The legal chaos reminiscent of the early 1990s is returning.

According to one of the transporters, trucks heading from Armenia to Russia have been accumulating at the Gizi terminal on the Georgian border for nearly two weeks. The containers are filled with brandy spirits. Georgian customs officials and other border services are engaged in illegal activities, seizing the drivers' licenses and effectively detaining the vehicles. They claim the need to check the quality of the transported beverages, despite the fact that these are transit goods that are not intended for sale in Georgia, but rather in Russia.

“I have been stuck at the terminal for 20 days,” says one of the drivers, A. “I was told that they needed to check the quality of the brandy spirit in the laboratory. The Georgian laboratory tested it and concluded that the quality is satisfactory, but they still didn’t let me go, stating they needed to take samples and send them to some laboratory in France for further testing. They can check the cargo if there are suspicions of smuggling or if they have information that weapons are being transported. But they have no right to check the quality of the spirits. This is the first time something like this has happened to me. If they keep us for another day, we will turn the trucks back and come to the government building.”

The transport company charges 20,000 drams for a day's delay to the owners of the cargo. They believe that the Georgian authorities, by creating obstacles at the border for Armenian companies, aim to push them out of the Russian beverage market and fill that space with Georgian-produced spirits.

"Hraparak" contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Armenian Embassy in Georgia, relaying the transporters' complaints to those bodies. “The embassy is aware and measures are being taken,” responded the MFA spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan, without revealing what specific measures are being discussed. “We are already addressing the issue. Thank you for the information,” reported the Armenian Embassy in Georgia.