Russian Foreign Ministry reacts to incident in Georgian parliament involving Russian MPs
The Russian Foreign Ministry says that Russian MPs had to leave the Georgian parliament with the help of guards. Photo: trend.az.
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Russian Foreign Ministry has reacted to today’s incident in the Georgian parliament, when Russian MPs were forced to leave the building where they were attending the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.
Russian MFA says that the MPs had to leave the Georgian parliament building “when radicals seized the building,” [referring to the Georgian opposition MPs].
Guards helped the MPs leave the building,” the Russian MFA writes.
The Russian parliament says before the incident took place a “fake news” was spread as if Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov was fighting in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region in 1990s.
Gavrilov denied all the accusations of his participation, as he never participated in any military conflicts, and noted that Russia and Georgia are united by fraternal Orthodox ties,” the Russian parliament says.
The Georgian Dream ruling party stated that the Russian MPs are leaving the county and the assembly will not be held in the way as it started.
The party called “alarming and unacceptable,” to the behavior of Gavrilov, when he took the seat of Georgian parliamentary speaker and addressed the audience from the high tribune.
The ruling party says that the organisers of the event must provide explanations why it has happened.
People are gathered on central streets of Tbilisi now, protesting upon allowing the MPs of the occupant country into Georgia and parliament.
Georgian Foreign Ministry official Vladimir Konstantinidi says the Foreign Ministry agrees with the ‘fair’ public protest regarding the Russian MPs’ visit to Georgia. He stated the Foreign Ministry permanently raises the issue of the occupation of two of the country’s regions as this is the key priority for the agency.
Russian MPs who participated in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held in the Georgian parliament earlier today are leaving Georgia after an incident took place when Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker, Tbilisi Mayor, Secretary General of the Georgian Dream ruling party Kakha Kaladze says.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that it was very difficult for him to see a Russian MP speak from the seat of the Georgian parliamentary chair. He says that the fact “affects national interests and the Georgian parliament.”
Russian MP Alexey Chepa, who is currently paying a visit to Georgia to attend the interparliamentary session on Orthodoxy, has denied occupation of Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) by Russia. Has also called for the return of the Soviet Union, and for the countries of the former USSR to be reunited.
Morning of June 20 protests outside Georgian parliament
Political opposition and part of the public erupted in protest in Tbilisi on Thursday after a Russian State Duma MP took a seat of the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia for an address to the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in the capital.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has released a statement calling the demonstrators to “immediately stop violence" in front of the parliament of Georgia and “leave the territory”. The announcement followed soon after the Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia went to the parliament, calling on the protesters to obey the police.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has called for "calm" amid unrest in Tbilisi as protesting crowds have been dispersed by police using tear gas in front of the parliament building.
The United States Embassy in Georgia has offered its reactions to the developments in Tbilisi where protesters repeatedly clashed with police, saying the diplomatic mission closely followed the events and urged for calm.