Russian Defense Ministry Sergey Ivanov told Russian television that Moscow’s sanctions against Georgia should not affect “ordinary citizens… everything should be in the frames of the law in this regard.”

Meanwhile, over one thousand protesters, including human rights and liberal opposition activists, reportedly gathered in downtown Moscow on October 8. The original reason of the rally was to condemn what they believe to be “anti-Georgian hysteria” in Russia. But the issue was overshadowed by the murder of a prominent Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead on October 7.

Echo Moskvy radio station said it was “the largest protest rally of the opposition held in Russia recently.”

Georgian media sources reported on October 8 that a second planeload of over 100 Georgians accused of migration offences is expected to arrive from Moscow in a few days.

The first plane carrying over 130 Georgians who were deported from Russia arrived in Tbilisi on October 6.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry accused Russian authorities on October 7 of “chauvinistic hysteria.”