The Georgian Foreign Ministry said murder of a Georgian citizen in Moscow, who was beaten to death, was “a vivid confirmation” of xenophobia.

A Russian policeman was arrested and charged with misuse of power and with inflicting bodily injuries to a refugee from Abkhazia, Eduard Gurtskaia, which led to the latter’s death, the Russian news agencies reported on November 25.

“This killing is a vivid confirmation that xenophobia is a common phenomenon in Russia and crimes on the ethnic ground against representatives of national minorities and Caucasians are committed both by skinheads and Russian militia, who resemble the skinheads by their methods,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

“Victim of the crime [Eduard] Ghurtskaia was refugee from Abkhazia. Russia first deprived him of homeland and then deprived of life,” the Foreign Ministry said.