Georgia’s Revenue Service said on August 6 that an Azerbaijani-registered vehicle was turned back to Turkey after customs officers found it was transporting sanctioned goods of European origin in transit to Russia.
The vehicle entered Georgia through the Sarpi customs checkpoint on July 24. While the Revenue Service did not specify the nature of the European-origin cargo, it said the vehicle, bound for Russia, was turned back to Turkey “within the framework of enforcing sanctions imposed by the European Union.”
Several hours later, the vehicle returned to Sarpi with a certificate of origin listing Turkey as the cargo’s country of origin. After becoming suspicious, customs officers conducted a partial inspection and found factory labels identifying Germany and Croatia as the goods’ countries of origin, the Revenue Service said.
It added that this indicated “possible document forgery” and an “attempt to transport sanctioned goods” while bypassing customs controls, and that the case materials had been handed over to the Finance Ministry’s Investigation Service for further action.
Hours before the Revenue Service issued its statement, Azerbaijani media outlet Report separately said that several Azerbaijani truck drivers transiting through Georgia had been stranded at Georgian customs checkpoints without an official explanation for the delays. “The drivers say they have been waiting for a long time mainly at the Sarpi and Red Bridge border crossing points, as well as the Customs Clearance Center in Tbilisi,” the report said.
Report cited several truck drivers who said their vehicles had been held in Georgia for weeks, in some cases for more than a month, without specifying their planned destinations. The outlet also said the Azerbaijani Embassy in Georgia told it that “the incident has been taken under control” and had sent a diplomatic inquiry to Georgia’s Foreign Ministry.
Georgia’s Revenue Service separately told local Interpressnews that cargo movement through all checkpoints was proceeding “without disruption,” while noting that it was “looking into this case,” apparently referring to the allegations reported by Report.
Similar allegations were made in December by Azerbaijani government-aligned media outlets, which said that Georgia was deliberately obstructing Azerbaijani trucks at the border.
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