According to the Chairman of the Georgian Dream, the United National Movement and its satellite parties have recently launched a campaign as if Russians were entering Georgia in an unprecedentedly large number.

As Irakli Kobakhidze explains, this is false information, and in fact, the number of Russian citizens who entered Georgia this year is three times lower than the number of Russian citizens who entered the country in 2019.

“The party of war and treason, represented by the United National Movement, its satellite parties, its own media outlets, commercial entities affiliated with it and some of the richest NGOs, at the beginning of March launched a completely shameful xenophobic and chauvinistic campaign against Russian citizens in Georgia.

With this campaign, they convinced a certain part of the population for a few days that Russians were entering Georgia in an unprecedentedly large number, which, according to them, contained serious risks for the country’s sovereignty and security. However, five months have passed since March, and everyone is convinced that the inflow of Russians in unprecedented numbers was a lie made up the by the war party. For several days, they have been trying to launch the second wave of xenophobic campaign.

In this case, too, they are trying to convince the public that Russians have entered Georgia in an unprecedentedly large number and that this poses serious threats to the country. Traditionally, they try to form this perception by grossly falsifying the facts. For example, a few days ago, one of the TV stations belonging to the war party assured the public that the number of Russians in Georgia was equal to 10 percent of the population of Georgia.

In fact, the number of Russian citizens who entered Georgia this year is three times lower than the respective number in 2019.

In addition, according to the border crossing data, the number of Russian citizens, who entered Georgia after the beginning of the war on February 24 and are in Georgia as of July 31, is less than 110 000, which is not even 3% of the population of Georgia. Besides, most of them are Georgian by nationality.

We cannot make a serious comment on the statements, according to which, these people are not tourists, but military and special service employees. If there is something that poses a serious threat to our country, it is precisely the xenophobic and chauvinist campaign.

We remind you that as a result of this campaign, a serious incident occurred in March, when a young woman of Russian nationality, who came to Georgia 3 years ago, was attacked in the center of Tbilisi. The authors of the xenophobic campaign have nothing to do with true Georgian or European values. Xenophobia and chauvinism have never been and will never be a part of Georgian culture”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.