Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, announced that the European Union is making the imposition of sanctions against Russia a condition for maintaining the country's visa-free status. According to him, Brussels is insisting that Tbilisi join the anti-Russian sanctions.

"They are telling us that if we want visa-free travel, we must impose sanctions against Russia, which would be suicide. If we kill and destroy ourselves, who will travel to the European Union visa-free? They are asking us to destroy our own country and align ourselves with the EU visa policy. We will not destroy the country, despite Brussels' desire to turn the visa into a political weapon," Shalva Papuashvili stated.

Earlier, the Georgian Foreign Ministry announced that talks on visa-free travel with the EU and related issues would be held in Brussels on June 11. This will be the first meeting of its kind in several years, following the deterioration of relations between Tbilisi and Brussels.

In recent years, Western countries have frequently reiterated their grievances against Georgia's current leadership, claiming it is retreating from democratic principles and engaging in anti-Western rhetoric. Georgia, for its part, attributes the tensions with the European Union to differences in views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a desire to preserve its independence.