Ruling party MP alleges opposition’s “double standard” in treatment of Russian citizens leaving their country

Political opposition in Georgia exhibits “double standards” in its differing reception to messages by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze about unacceptability of ethnic discrimination of Russians leaving the country on the back of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, GD MP Rati Ionatamishvili said on Friday.

Ionatamishvili pointed to the statement by Scholz on Thursday that called discrimination of Russians leaving their country for Europe “unacceptable”, and highlighted the same message from Kobakhidze, contrasting the opposition’s differing reactions to the two.

The fact that Kobakhidze's statement is unacceptable for the radical opposition [but] Scholz's statement is acceptable means not only that double standards are acceptable to these people, but also that they are the party of war and the Fifth Column in our country,” the MP said in reference to the opposition parties that have criticised the Government’s policies toward Russia since the invasion of Ukraine last month.

Scholz tweeted on Thursday to say the war in Ukraine is “Putin's war and he alone is responsible for it”, while Kobakhidze said on March 4 collective discrimination against people on ethnic grounds was “completely and categorically unacceptable”.

In the latter statement, the GD head was responding to rumours about an expected influx of Russian citizens in Georgia on the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine, and speculation on Government measures to counter it.