16 arrested in protests against presence of Russian FM’s relatives in Georgia released

Sixteen individuals who were arrested on Saturday for disobedience of police and petty hooliganism in eastern Georgia while protesting the presence of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s relatives for marriage celebrations were released late on Sunday. 

The incident followed last week’s landing of the first Russian jet in four years in Tbilisi, shortly after the Kremlin announced lifting of its ban on direct flights with Georgia on May 10, and took place after protesters gathered outside the Kvareli Lake hotel in Kakheti region to voice their displeasure at the presence of Mika Vinokurov, Lavrov’s son-in-law, and Ekaterina Lavrova-Vinokurova, the politician’s daughter, for a planned marriage involving their relatives.

The demonstration, which involved Droa party leader Elene Khoshtaria and other opposition politicians, protested the presence of the two individuals on the backdrop of their inclusion in international sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and accused the Georgian Government of “cooperation” with Moscow. 

Law enforcement arrested 16 individuals at the protest, with two released the following day after a “verbal note” by a judge. The remaining 14 will face a trial on June 19, lawyers said. 

Khoshtaria, who was also detained on Saturday at the police station in the city of Telavi for disobedience of police along with two members of the United National Movement opposition party, was also released and will face a trial on the same date. The two UNM members will receive hearings on June 30. 

In his comments on Sunday, Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, accused the demonstrators of “xenophobia” and a part of the domestic opposition of “double standards”.

We had predicted that as the tourist season approached, a new wave of xenophobic campaigns would begin”, Kobakhidze said, contrasting the protests with the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who led the former UNM Government, “personally attending” an event with Russian guests in Georgia shortly after the country’s invasion of Georgia in 2008. 

In her press comments on Sunday, President Salome Zourabichvili cited the country’s Interior Minister as saying Lavrov's relatives had left the location following the protests, before criticising the Government for “insulting the Georgian people” and urging them to use lists of sanctioned Russian individuals at border crossings to prevent similar incidents. 

In his response, Kobakhidze said sanctions “cannot be applied to family members” and claimed applying restrictions would be “contrary to human rights standards”. He said individuals who had not violated the Georgian law on the country’s Russian-occupied territories would be allowed to enter the country.