Georgia has finally paid its long-standing debts to seven countries, including Russia, as well as its other neighbours in the Caucasus, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Russian state-run media outlet TASS reported on Wednesday that data from Georgia’s Finance Ministry revealed that the country had paid off the remaining $3.9 million it owed Russia.
Data on Georgia’s debt to Russia has been publicly available since 2003 — at the time, Georgia owed $1.5 billion in public debt, $157 million of which was to Russia.
Georgia’s public debt in general has grown in the intervening years, to $9 billion as of August. However, those whom Georgia owed money too has also changed, with France now taking the top spot at $851 million.
In addition to Russia, Georgia also paid off its remaining debts to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, and Iran.
The total remaining amount owed to Armenia and Azerbaijan was around $1 million, the Azerbaijani state-run media outlet APA reported.
According to Georgian business news site Commersant, the debts were incurred during the country’s initial post-independence years. They were restructured in 2004, with repayments beginning in 2011.
The full repayment of debts to Russia, a country that Georgia still has no official diplomatic relations with, has stoked controversy within the country.
‘While Europe and the [US] are freezing Russian assets, we’re paying off debt to them?’, journalist Anna Gvarishvili asked on X.
Yousef Bardouka
