INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
News that Tbilisi is moving forward with the purchase of Russian-made subway cars has been met with outrage in Georgia, where dealings with
the northern neighbor have become particularly controversial amid the Ukraine war.Though the deal dates to 2021, Tbilisi City Hall confirmed
Tbilisi subway with funds from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
possible sanctions, and talks were underway with alternative companies.However, the matter has received renewed scrutiny, and backlash,
after municipal officials made it clear on Feb
1 that they would in fact be buying the cars from the Russian manufacturer.Tbilisi officials said in their defense that despite their desire
and attempts together with EBRD to reverse the deal, they were forced to carry on to avoid financial losses."Considering that we wouldn't be
able to buy the cars from an alternative supplier and switching to the next tender proposal would have made the purchase 30-35% costlier, we
tried to complete the talks with the current supplier in a way that would protect our interests to the maximum extent possible," Irakli
1.Khmaladze said that contractual changes included paying only after the product has been delivered, and that all changes had been agreed
The deputy mayor stressed that Metrovagonmash had not been sanctioned.In a separate interview, MP Maia Bitadze, head of the parliament's
environment committee and former deputy mayor of Tbilisi, further defended the deal by pointing to the "technical compatibility" of the
company with the Georgian capital's Soviet-made subway."Subways vary in many countries
In this case, the Russian company is technically the most suitable company, which can carry out high-quality work in terms of subway car
1."It does not matter here whether the company is Russian, African, or Transatlantic
2 that the city hall-owned Tbilisi Transport Company conducted the tender in 2021 "in accordance with EBRD's procurement procedures and
EBRD's role to deny their own responsibility for the questionable purchase
Georgian authorities have come under scrutiny for any dealings with Russian companies, seen by many Georgians as a security threat
Belarusian-made artificial intelligence software, leading to concerns about sensitive personal data being compromised.This allegedly
includes the habitoscopy (face identification) and ballistic (arms and ammunition) forensic software produced by Russia-based Papillon and
fingerprint software made by Belarusian TODES
The ministry ruled out the possibility of external actors getting access to sensitive data and called the allegations a deliberate attempt
to discredit Georgian investigative and forensics agencies.In earlier controversies, the government has faced criticism for
Tbilisi has not itself sanctioned Russia, but it has aligned with international financial sanctions and claims it is doing its utmost to
ensure Georgia is not used for sanctions evasion.The government's lukewarm support for Ukraine and Moscow-appeasing rhetoric, however,
have led critics to doubt its commitment
(As things stand, Moscow and Tbilisi have treated the decision on flight renewal as each other's responsibility.)And Moscow's repeated
quote [the Georgian] prime minister and his ministers, who in response to the unprecedented pressure demanding that they join sanctions,
