Opposition protest rally in TbilisiTBILISI, Aug 8 Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili accused oppositionists and a number of NGOs in conducting a xenophobic campaign against Russians coming to the country. Earlier, opposition parties in Georgia and a number of non-governmental organizations called on the authorities to introduce a visa regime for Russians in order to limit their stay in the country to three months. They claim that there is a mass arrival of Russians in the country, whose goal is not tourism, but business activities. Russia's strategic facilities»Separating people based on nationality is xenophobia. This is an elementary truth. Talk that the entry of Russian tourists is fraught with additional dangers is populism that turned into xenophobia … In March there was the same wave, as if there were saboteurs… This is ordinary xenophobic propaganda,» Papuashvili told reporters. According to him, today there are two times fewer Russians in Georgia than it was in 2019. Papuashvili added that border police officers identify incoming citizens and make a decision on their admission to the country. «At the border, border guards make a decision whether to let a person into the country or not. This is control exercised by the state. A visa-free regime does not mean uncontrolled travel,» he added .Representatives of the Georgian authorities have repeatedly stated that they are not going to join the sanctions against Russia, which were imposed by the West because of the military operation in Ukraine. Georgia announced the registration of a record number of companies by Russians
