Givi Mikanadze, an MP for the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said there was “no need at this stage” to convene a meeting of the national security council, in response to president Salome Zourabichvili who on Tuesday said the government could use the format amid a “mass influx” of Russian nationals following the announcement of partial military mobilisation in the country last week.
In his remarks over the matter, the Georgian Dream MP noted that “as soon as there is even the slightest reason to convene a security council meeting, it will certainly be done”.
The ministry of internal affairs is openly disclosing data [on recent border crossings]. There is speculation that a large part of the incoming [Russian] citizens are ethnically Russian, which is not true - most of the people coming from Russia are ethnically Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani, who are originally from Georgia and most of them have property here”, Mikanadze said.
"Therefore, while a meeting of the security council will be convened if it is necessary, at this stage there is no such need”, he concluded in his comments.
The Georgian interior ministry on Tuesday released statistics on border crossings to Georgia made by Russian citizens over the last 10 days, which showed that 78,742 citizens of Russia had entered the country and 62,120 left its territory in the period.