Interior minister rejects media claim on 250,000 visitors from Russia entering Georgia over past 5 days
Gomelauri also responded to a question about demands by some of the domestic opposition that the government enact border closures for Russian citizens amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Photo: 1tv.ge
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Georgian interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Tuesday rejected the local media claim that said 250,000 individuals from Russia had entered the Georgian territory over the last five days since the announcement of the partial military mobilisation in Russia as a “lie”.
It's a lie. I don't know where you get these numbers from. About four to five days ago there were five to six thousand visitors [from Russia] daily, and now it has increased to about ten thousand”, the minister said in response to a question by a reporter that had included the claim on the former number.
“[The number] has increased somewhere by 40-45 percent and is not 250,000 or two million”, he told the press, adding about 60 percent of recent visitors from Russia were eventually leaving Georgia.
Gomelauri also responded to a question about demands by some of the domestic opposition that the government enact border closures for Russian citizens amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The official drew a contrast to the previous government’s policy in the aftermath of Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia and the subsequent war between the two states by reminding the media in 2011 the then president Mikheil Saakashvili had “personally welcomed” visitors from Russia at the border three years after the conflict.
We have strengthened our [security] units [at the border] to filter [using security checks] as much as possible and not let anyone [who is a security risk] infiltrate. The [state] security service is also helping us”, Gomelauri said, adding checkpoints on the border with Russia were operating at full capacity and noting “I don't think the number of visitors will increase any more than that - we physically would not be able to handle it”.
Earlier today Russian media reported the country’s authorities intended to deploy a mobilisation point of the military enlistment office on the border with Georgia, in the wake of last week’s announcement by the Russian president of a partial mobilisation for bolstering ranks for the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.