ANTI-GEORGIAN CAMPAIGN "EMOTIONAL" SAYS RUSSIAN PAPER
By Ekaterina Basilaia

The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 26 2006

The Russian authorities have attempted to justify their month long
anti-Georgian campaign, that has seen businesses closed and schools
asked to provide lists of Georgian pupils, as an "emotional" response;
meanwhile, Georgian citizens continue to be deported.

Despite the disruption and distress caused to many ordinary people both
in Georgia and Russia by the closure of transport and postal links,
Russian officials have downplayed these moves, and denied that they
constitute a blockade of Georgia.

The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, says the
cutting of trans;port links is not a severe sanction. "Russia is
accessible by many different routs and people can come here anytime
they want, like the young Georgian Sambo wrestlers who arrived last
week to attend a sports event," Lavrov stated, as quoted by IBK.ru
news agency.

Furthermore, reports in the Russian media suggest that the campaign
against "illegal Georgian migrants" has abated.

Russian daily paper Vedomosti argues that "the number of deported
illegal Georgian migrants has decreased.

"The last plane with deportees flew to Georgia a week ago and the
total number of deported Georgians from Russia totals 800 people,"
the paper claims.

According to the paper the crackdown on "Georgian criminals" has
started to decline as well, and most of the casinos and restaurants
owned by Georgians have now reopened.

Two casinos that were shut down in Moscow, the Golden Palace and Golden
Palace Weekend, and three casinos in St. Petersburg, Olympia, Konti
and Nevada are already operating, and Kristal, one of the biggest
entertainment centres in the Russian capital, will reopen soon.

But Lavrov’s recent statements suggest the economic sanctions on
Georgia are not likely to be lifted any time soon.

Paper quoted an unnamed source close to president Putin’s
administration saying that the aggressive anti-Georgian policy was
implemented on an "emotional basis."

"However, now there is an understanding that the pressure should be
lifted," the paper quotes the Kremlin insider as saying.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry has continued its attempts to stop the
persecution of Georgians on "ethnic grounds".

The ministry issued a statement on Tuesday saying it had handed over
materials "on the violation of Georgian citizens’ rights" to the U.N.

High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international
organizations.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s consul in the Russian Federation, Zurab Pataradze,
says Georgian deportees from Russia have been arriving via three
different routes from Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The last group
of deportees arrived from Armenia on October 25 and another 100 are
expected to be delivered to the country late at night tonight.

In a promising development, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
issued a statement on October 24, saying that the foreign ministers
of Georgia and Russia agreed to hold bilateral meetings in Moscow on
November 1-2 on the sidelines of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization foreign ministers’ summit.