Russian MP says Russia-Georgia economic ties face a threat
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, June 21
Russian MP from Communist party Sergey Gavrilov, who was harshly criticized and opposed in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Thursday during a religious assembly, warned after the incident that Russia-Georgia trade-economic relations, which was restored in 2012, faces a threat.
He told the Russian Ria Novosti that “radical groups” in the Georgian parliament, referring to the opposition, doused him in water, insulted him and tried to take away the folder he held.
Gavrilov strongly denied the allegations of the Georgian opposition that he fought in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region against Georgians in 1991.
Georgian opposition MPs interrupted the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), a transnational organisation founded in 1994, to defend interests of orthodox counties, after Gavrilov, who is the president of the assembly, addressed the audience from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair.
The opposition said that the assembly, with 25 participating states, would not be allowed to take place until Russian MPs left Georgia.
The opposition urged people to join a rally in front of the parliament building protesting the occupation and presence of Russian MPs in the country.
The government pointed at the organisers [who are the members of the Georgian Dream ruling party and the Alliance of Patriots parliamentary opposition],” who made the huge mistake” to allow Gavrilov sit in the speaker’s chair.
Russian MP Alexey Chepa, who was also in the Georgian parliament, said that Georgian territories are not occupied by Russia and stated that the Soviet Union with Georgia and other countries in, will be restored.
Russia and Georgia have not had diplomatic relations since the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, as 20 percent of the country is occupied by Russia.
Shortly after the defeat of the nine-year-rule of the United National Movement. The Georgian Dream government appointed Zurab Abashidze as the country’s envoy to Russia in 2012 to deal with only trade and economic issues.
For now, Russia is among Georgia’s top three export and import partners.
