Georgia’s Russian Envoy Calls on Georgian Media to Show ‘Restraint’

Georgian ambassador to Russia Erosi Kitsmarishvili told Georgian media outlets to show “moderation” in their coverage of incidents similar to the one that occurred in Zugdidi on June 17, when four Russian peacekeepers were detained.

“I want to ask Georgian journalists that in covering incidents such as the Zugdidi one that they demonstrate more restraint in order to avoid inflaming opinion in both Georgia and Russia in light of existing tense relations,” Kitsmarishvili told a group of Georgian journalists in Moscow on June 19.

Georgian nationwide TV stations – Rustavi 2 TV, Mze TV and the public TV – aired footage on June 17 showing several plain clothes Georgian security officers and several patrol policemen dragging two Russian peacekeepers from their truck, forcing them onto the ground, swearing at them and then pushing them into police cars.   

Russian TV subsequently aired the footage, with Vesti TV saying the footage was recorded by Georgian TV crews, who, they implied, had been tipped off in advance about what they called the planned “attack” on the Russian peacekeepers.

Kitsmarishvili is the founder of Rustavi 2 TV, but sold up in 2004. He was appointed Georgian ambassador to Russia in February.

Kitsmarishvili also told the journalists that they should avoid interviewing “marginal Russian politicians,” except in special cases, as “it brings nothing good to Russian-Georgian relations.” 

Kitsmarishvili made his remarks a day after the Georgian and Russian presidents discussed the Zugdidi incidence in a phone conversation. The Georgian diplomat said the conversation demonstrated the increased level of contacts between the two sides, which in itself was positive.

The Kremlin reported on June 18 that President Dmitry Medvedev had told his Georgian counterpart that “provocations” against Russian peacekeepers were “inadmissible.”

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)