Russian citizens hold rally in Tbilisi opposing Kremlin's position
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Russian citizens have held a rally in front of the Georgian parliament building today, saying that Georgians’ anti-occupation protests are justified and that they do not share the attitude of the Kremlin on many issues regarding Georgia.
Demonstrators said that they have always felt safe in Georgia, and opposed Russia’s ban on direct flights to Georgia imposed due to “security threats.”
They said that many in Russia have a different view on Georgia and they do not share the views and statements of state officials.
The poster reads:"Putin and Kremlin remember: Abkhazia and Samachablo (South Ossetia) are Georgia,"- referring to the two Russian-occupied regions of Georgia. Photo: netgazeti.
There are other Russian citizens in Georgia who share our views but they refrain from standing here because they have relatives in Russia,” Netgazeti cited one of the demonstrators by saying.
Russia banned direct flights to Georgia from July 8 after Russian MPs were forced to leave Tbilisi on June 20, due to an incident in parliament when Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker.
The Duma also proposed the Russian government ban Georgian products, which was dismissed by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia says that flights will be resumed when “Russophobic hysteria” has ended in Georgia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his own explanation of how Georgia “engulfed” the currently Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.
‘I wouldn’t do that out of respect for the Georgian people’
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he did not support a parliamentary call to impose tough economic sanctions on Georgia. Earlier today, the Russian parliament unanimously backed a resolution urging the government to draw up sanctions against Georgia, which included halting the import of wine and mineral waters from Georgia to the Russian Federation and putting in place a ban on remittances from Russia.
Flights between Georgia and Russia have been banned starting today following the recent decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The ban on flights was announced after protesters in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi tried to storm the Georgian parliament on June 20 when a Russian MP addressed a forum of politicians at the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy from the speaker’s chair.
Georgian opposition MPs have interrupted the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) after a Russian MP and president of the assembly, Sergey Gavrilov addressed the audience from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair earlier today.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that the ban on direct flights to Georgia will be removed when “security threats” to Russians in Georgia are eliminated.
Head of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili says that the resignation of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia after the June 20 rally dispersal in Tbilisi and following demonstrations would have been a betrayal of the state as the opposition had plans to overthrow the government.
Georgian Foreign Ministry has responded to the recent statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said that Russia will remove the flight ban on Georgia when the country has fully ensured the safety of Russian citizens in Georgia. Lavrov has urged the Georgian government to “realise the damage” the country will suffer if the current tension with Russia continues.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that he would resume direct flights with Georgia, which were suspended in July 2019, as a majority of Georgians ‘have seen the negative sides’ of the ‘provocation staged’ in the Georgian parliament on June 20.He said that the Georgian opposition deliberately sparked unrest in the Georgian parliament after the address of Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov from the seat of the Georgian parliament speaker that day.