Georgia asks EU, US to impose sanctions on business in provinces
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Georgia asked the European Union and the United States on Sunday to impose sanctions on companies and individuals that do business in its breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia without its permission.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said he also looks to the EU to make Russia comply with the terms of the cease-fire that ended the fighting in August's Georgian-Russian war and provide economic recovery and reconstruction aid.
Gurgenidze is to meet with senior EU officials outside the bloc's summit on Monday, but will not speak to the gathering of the 27 European leaders.
He called for sanctions on companies and people attempting to do business illegally in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and described illegal business as trading without first "registering with the Georgian authorities" in the capital Tblisi.