Russia has stripped Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, of its citizenship, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Vashadze, who held double Georgian-Russian citizenship, requested the Russian authorities to renounce his Russian citizenship in November, 2009.

“Last week we received information that the Russian side has at last found time - or maybe as a result of great debates and great discussions – it made a decision to satisfy Mr. Vashadze’s appeal,” Davit Jalagania, the Georgian deputy foreign minister, said.

Vashadze lived in Russia for about 30 years and worked for the Soviet Foreign Ministry between 1981 and 1988. After quitting the diplomatic service he was engaged in a private business, before President Saakashvili offered him to take the post of the Deputy Foreign Minister in February, 2008 in charge of relations with Russia; in early December of 2008 he was appointed as Foreign Minister; he held the post of Culture Minister for a month before becoming the Foreign Minister.