The Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on October 24 that although the international community has condemned the xenophobic campaign unleashed against Georgians in the Russian Federation, the Russian authorities still continue to persecute ethnic Georgians.

Tbilisi once again categorically demanded that the Russian side put an immediate end to ethnic targeting of citizens and follow a path of negotiations and constructive dialogue to settle political problems.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the immigration service and respective agencies of the Russian Interior Ministry try to ‘reveal’ citizens of Georgia and ethnic Georgians by various methods. For example: ethnic Georgians are detained in the streets under the pretext of checking their papers; schools and institutions receive inquiries to disclose lists of  pupils and students with Georgian surnames; special purpose units enter commercial enterprises owned by Georgians; there are reports of district inspectors calling on Georgian citizens in their homes and taking their passports to courts where deportation orders are issued against them in absentia.

“In the persecution of the citizens of Georgia, representatives of the Russian authorities, apart from acting in defiance of universally recognized human rights and freedoms, breach norms of the Russian legislation as well... which do not, for some unknown reason, apply to Georgian citizens repressed solely due to their ethnic origin,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.