Moscow and Tbilisi Exchange Deported, Evacuated Citizens
Late on Friday night 167 Russian citizens, the first to be evacuated from Georgia, arrived from Tbilisi bearing roses, wine, and grapes given to them by a delegation of Tbilisi residents, headed by Economics Minister Irakli Chogovadzhe, who accompanied them to the airport. A similar number of Georgians, on the other hand, arrived in Tbilisi from Moscow nursing deep resentment towards the Russian police.
Today another two planes belonging to the Emergencies Ministry flew from Moscow to Tbilisi with deported Georgian citizens on board and returned to Moscow with 245 Russian citizens who were in Georgia for work or holiday and who were trapped by the severance of transport links between the two countries.
In Moscow, meanwhile, police conducted a massive document check at the Georgian consulate. According to a Georgian diplomat who preferred not to be named, riot police encircled the building at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday and inspected the papers of every Georgian citizen who was waiting in line for an exit visa. The policemen left after several hours, taking with them four Georgian citizens.
Another large-scale document check took place later that evening as people arrived for services at a Georgian church in the center of Moscow. No one was detained, however, and the policemen left when journalists arrived.
The behavior of Russian law enforcement officers has drawn open protests from several well-known Georgians in Russia, including actor and singer Vakhtang Kikabidze, singer Nani Bregvadze, and Bolshoi Opera soloist Zurab Sotkilava, who called on Orthodox Patriarch Aleksey II to "lift up [his] voice in defense of Georgians living in Russia."
Meanwhile, Russia's actions have not gone unnoticed in Georgia. The Georgian Foreign Ministry released a statement calling the detention of Georgians at the consulate in Moscow "a further provocation and a xenophobic step." On Sunday, the ministry promised that it will lodge a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights concerning the unlawful detention of Georgian citizens on Russian territory. Said the ministry, "Moscow is carrying out repressive measures in relation to Georgian citizens, including children. The Russian government is thus directly violating human rights as they are acknowledged by the international community. An enumeration of these events testifies that human rights are being violated not by a single institution but by the entire [Russian] government."
Andrey Smirnov, Ekaterina Savina, and Vladimir Novikov (Tbilisi)
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 09, 2006
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