Georgian president not ruling out introduction of visas for Russians

CHISINAU. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has not ruled out the possibility of discussing the introduction of visas for Russians in the country.

Measures taken in light of increasing flows of Russians to Georgia "may not be enough," she said at a joint press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Chisinau on Monday.

"Perhaps, we will have to talk about visas for Russian citizens as well, because everything is quite liberal now. The government of Georgia must make this decision together with the society," she said.

"Russian citizens who ended up in Georgia are an obvious challenge for us," she said. "Both former citizens of our country and Russian citizens are coming to Georgia now. Control mechanisms are used on the border to avoid danger for residents," Zourabichvili said.

Sandu, for her part, said that "risks to the security of Moldova have increased" since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine.

"Additional control of foreign citizens on the border was introduced even then, since the very beginning. These control measures are still in place now that the flow of citizens has increased. The majority of persons arriving in Moldova now are citizens of our country who also hold Russian citizenship. But there are Russian citizens as well. They are subject to control, like all foreign citizens," Sandu said.