State Security Service Claims Rumors on Mass Influx of Russian Citizens Is Disinformation
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
The State Security Service responded to rumors regarding the massive influx of Russian and Belarusian citizens into Georgia in recent days on the 8th of March, rejecting the speculation and assuring that state security is under full control.
The agency assessed the rumors as the deliberate spread of misinformation, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The public is being intimidated by the alleged existence of so-called Saboteurs and terrorism-related groups infiltrating the state among a stream of citizens crossing the border. We declare with full responsibility that the security environment in the country is under full control,” they reported.
Together with other relevant agencies, the State Security Service announced that it is actively taking all necessary measures to minimize possible risks and challenges, as well as to fully control all persons at potential risk in the country.
According to the SSS, “as a result of the measures taken, a calm and safe environment has been maintained throughout the country. Citizens of the Russian Federation, Belarus, and other foreign countries who have entered the country do not tend to carry out activities that pose a risk to the country's security.”
“It should be noted that the number of people entering the country in the current period does not exceed the statistics of the same period in previous years. The state of Georgia exercises the sovereign right of a foreign citizen to enter the territory of the country in full compliance with the law, by the existing risks and challenges.”
Similar information was spread by the Minister of Economy, Levan Davitashvili the previous day. During comments after the government session, he addressed public concerns about the possible influx of Russian citizens due to international sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, saying that ‘We are talking about 20-25 thousand people. This is the rank that was in 2020, before the introduction of covid-related restrictions. This data is not comparable to 2021 as all traffic was blocked’. He did not specify the exact timeframe within which the number was recorded and commented that accurate data will be published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to the National Statistics Office, in the first quarter of 2019, 74.2 thousand Russian nationals visited Georgia per month on average. The same number stood at 48.8 thousand and 2.6 thousand in the first quarters of 2020 and 2021, respectively. The data for the first quarter of 2022 has not been published yet.
The Economy Minister also dismissed calls to impose restrictions/visa regime on Russian Nationals, explaining that with the screening process of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Georgia can attain the same objective of a visa requirement anyways. According to him, Georgia is one of the rare islands of freedom in the region and the country has pursued liberal economic and trade policies to ‘attract more people for business’.
Davitashvili also recalled the previous United National Movement administration’s decision of 2012 to waive the visa requirement for Russians and argued that Georgia back then aimed to show its democracy and openness to people ‘who did not want to live with the regime’, the goal which is shared by GD government.
Speaking about Russian citizens possibly willing to relocate their businesses to Georgia, the Minister noted that their activities should align with the requirements of Georgian law and international sanctions.
