Georgian interior minister sees no reason to talk about excessive flow of Russians to country

TBILISI. March 17 (Interfax) - Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri has not confirmed circulating information that "a critically large quantity" of Russian citizens have arrived in Georgia in the past few weeks.

"If we compare statistics of Russian citizens' visits to our country, their number was 50% bigger in February-March of 2019 than in the similar period of 2022," Gomelauri said at parliamentary hearings on Thursday.

"Very many Russian citizens are currently using Georgia as a transit country. In particular, large groups of Russian citizens from its republics in the North Caucasus are returning home from Turkey on buses via the Kazbegi checkpoint," the minister said.

He told journalists earlier that according to the Border Guard Service, a little over 20,000 Russian citizens were staying in Georgia as of mid-March.

Protection of the borders is a priority of this ministry's work, Gomelauri said.

In 2012, Georgia unilaterally made their country visa-free for Russian citizens, enabling them to stay in Georgia for up to a year.