Georgia’s revenue service on Thursday rejected TV reports that alleged a drastic increase in the number of individuals crossing the country’s northern border from Russia over the past days by saying there was “no sharp difference” observed in the figures over the past 10 days.
The state body said the Kazbegi customs checkpoint on the state border was working "smoothly and with full capacity" in processing border crossings.
The statement followed reports by several local media outlets that aired footage of traffic through the checkpoint with comments on a “kilometre-long queue” of vehicles.
Authors of the reports connected the allegedly increased border crossings with a supposed increase in the number of Russian citizens attempting to leave the country following the partial military mobilisation announced by president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in connection with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
In its comments rejecting the claims, the revenue service urged domestic media outlets to "refrain from releasing false and unverified information".