Two Georgian scientists demand to exclude them from Ukraine's sanctions list

Two citizens of Georgia, Merab Khalvashi, Rector of the Batumi University, and Miranda Turmanidze, a scientific researcher at the Batumi Archaeological Museum, have been put on the sanctions list of Ukraine. They are outraged by the sanctions imposed on them.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 20, Ukrainian authorities imposed sanctions on 294 legal entities and 848 individuals, deciding that they were involved in the construction of the Crimean Bridge, elections in Donbas and the incident in the Kerch Strait.

The above Georgian scientists are surprised by this decision and intend to appeal against it at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tbilisi.

"Our university has issued a memorandum of cooperation with many Ukrainian universities, but I personally have never been to Ukraine," the "Georgia Online" quotes Mr Khalvashi as saying.

The Rector suggests that this may be associated with a scientific conference in Sevastopol in 2017. "I could be on the list of the invitees, but I was not there and didn't send my report," the outlet quotes Merab Khalvashi.

Miranda Turmanidze has also suggested that the sanctions imposed on her could be associated with the conference in Sevastopol. She noted that those who invited her were interested in her work; therefore, she sent a thesis stating that she was working on the necklaces of the ancient era found on the Black Sea coast.