Amid Protests and Arrests, President Says Lavrov’s Relatives Leave Georgia

Amid public protests, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said at a news briefing on May 20, citing Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, that the relatives of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union, had already left Georgia.   

On May 19, after the first Russian plane landed in Tbilisi following Russia’s decision to resume direct flights with Georgia, it emerged that Mika Vinokurov, the brother of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s son-in-law, got married in Tbilisi and was planning to hold a post-wedding event at the Kvareli Lake Resort Hotel in the Kakheti region on May 20. It was reported that Lavrov’s daughter, Ekaterina Lavrova, had also arrived in Georgia; however, the resort administration did not officially confirm the report, saying that “the visit of Lavrov’s daughter to Kvareli Lake is not true” and that no guest with the Lavrov surname was registered. Lavrov’s daughter reportedly has her husband’s surname.

“I was informed by the Interior Minister that this family and the people who planned a wedding event today have left and the wedding will not take place today,” President Zurabishvili said, adding that “this is a kind of victory for society, as it was when Gavrilov left the country.” 

The President criticized the authorities, saying they “cannot play with their people and irritate them like this”. She said: “This is an insult to the Georgian people” who know “how to protect their freedom.” She also said that “no one needs gifts from the country that is a permanent occupying power”.

She stressed that it was unacceptable “to play on the nerves of your own people” in such a sensitive situation, with a war going on in Ukraine. She also said: “It is the achievement of society that these people have left, but society can only do so much.” She said, “the government has a big responsibility of its own, first of all to protect the border”. She expressed dismay at the government’s alleged lack of knowledge about the presence of the sanctioned individuals in the country: “How is it possible that they don’t know who has entered…”

President Zurabishvili called on authorities to use the list of the sanctioned individuals to protect Georgia’s border, which he said needed more protection than distant European states because of its vulnerability.

Salome Zurabishvili also said she would be boycotting Airzena air company, saying this is “an airline that takes advantage… and profits from this situation.”  She said that she would not use the services of the company and that she would not enrich the company, which which will do anything for money and whose owner is so happy about this situation” [referring to the owner Tamaz Gaiashvili, the owner of Airzena-Georgian Airways, which also started operating flights to Russia, who said today that everybody is happy about and grateful for Vladimir Putin’s decree.]

The President also criticized Irakli Kobakhidze, saying that it is unacceptable to accuse Georgians of xenophobia, especially in view of the fact that they have received hundreds of thousands of migrants from the occupying state of Russia in the last 18 months, and especially considering that Russia uses the argument of protecting its citizens in various countries to invade them.

The presidential briefing was preceded by the protest rally near the resort in Kakheti where the Russian citizens were supposed to hold the festivities. Large number of police were mobilized in the vicinity of the resort to prevent protesters from entering the area. 17 people – politicians and activists- have reportedly been arrested in Kakheti, in the vicinity of the resort where the wedding ceremony was planned to take place, including Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria. The police are not disclosing where the detainees have been taken, including to their legal representatives, who are unable to meet with their clients.

Meanwhile another protest rally is announced at 18:00 in front of the Parliament building to protest the authorities’ policy of rapprochement with Russia.

This news was updated at 19:28 to include the details of the presidential briefing and arrests of protesters in Kakheti.

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