Data of Russian companies registered in Georgia “not alarming” - ruling party MP

Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Mikheil Sarjveladze said on Tuesday there was “nothing alarming” in the number of Russian businesses registered in Georgia over the past five months, in comments of the latest data of the National Statistics Office that showed 7,459 Russian businesses registered in the country between March 1 and August 1.

The number of the businesses registered on the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine also showed only four of the entities indicating their activities in their registration. 

In his remarks, Sarjveladze said it was “best international practice” that the domestic legislation did not require entrepreneurs to indicate a specific activity in the process of registering a company. “It is natural that the rule is for everyone, no matter of their ethnicity”, he added. 

In further comments, the MP said “radical political forces” of the domestic scene were “eager to find something alarming in the figures and the situation”.

There is nothing alarming in the figures, as some forces are trying to show”, Sarjveladze said. 

• Opposition calls to impose visa requirements for Russians aim to drag Georgia into war - ruling party MP

In a bid to “prevent security threats”, several opposition parties have called on the authorities to impose visa requirements for Russian citizens and ban them from registering businesses in Georgia in the wake of the war in Ukraine.