EBRD funds channelled to Kremlin affiliates: Why the purchase of Tbilisi metro cars from a Russian company should not proceed as planned, 13 March 2023

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing funding to Tbilisi City Hall to purchase metro cars for the Georgian capital’s metro system from Russian company Metrowagonmash. But Metrowagonmash is not just any Russian company.

Metrowagonmash is part of Transmashholding, whose shareholders Russian oligarchs Iskander Makhmudov and Andrey Bokarev – are closely linked with the Kremlin and its defence industry...

The Tbilisi Metro Project, which is co-financed by the Green Climate Fund, received finances from the EBRD in 2020 and the Russian supplier was selected in a two-tier tender in 2021. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed the context and stalled the official procurement procedures with Metrowagonmash.

In March 2022, the EBRD suspended a transfer to the Russian company due to the risk of sanctions. In November 2022, the mayor of Tbilisi announced that the municipality and the EBRD had decided to terminate the contract and were in contact with alternative suppliers. Yet in February 2023, a Tbilisi City Hall representative said that Metrowagonmash would remain on as the supplier, as it provided the most affordable tender proposal...

Despite our multiple attempts to obtain more information, the EBRD has not yet responded to our queries about the project.