Petras Auštrevičius (ALDE). – Mr President, 10 years ago, when Russia launched its invasion of Georgia, many in the free world were tempted to see it as an isolated incident. Far too many were tempted to continue business as usual with the Kremlin. The much larger invasion of Ukraine just a few years later showed the colossal price of such wishful thinking. Had we woken up in 2008, a lot of trouble could have been avoided.

Today, as we express solidarity with Georgia, I call on this House to support the Georgian Parliament’s decision to sanction Russian officials directly responsible for grave human rights abuses in the occupied territories, including the recent murders of Georgian citizens – the Otkhozoria and Tatunashvili list.

Finally, Georgia too must stick to its political obligations. I therefore appeal to Tbilisi to respect fully the decision of last November of the European Court of Human Rights on the former Prime Minister, Vano Merabishvili.