MOSCOW SAYS GEORGIANS MAY FIND IT HARD TO GET RUSSIAN VISAS
Ekho Moskvy radio
Sept 1 2008
Moscow
Georgian citizens may face serious difficulties with entry visas into
Russia. This possibility was not ruled out by the official [Russian]
Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrey Nesterenko. He explained that
consular institutions in Georgia can only concentrate now on the
problems of Russians in Georgia. Everything to do with issuing visas
remains very much in question.
It turns out that difficulties can now occur in Moscow as well. An
ethnic Georgian listener told our "Daily U-Turn" programme today that
on the Day of Knowledge [1 September, the start of the Russian school
year], a schoolteacher decided to tell children about the conflict in
South Ossetia and described the Georgian side as fascists. [Passage
omitted: listener tells her story]
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, about 15,000 Russian
citizens who live in Georgia intend to return to Russia. According to
the same Andrey Nesterenko, they are looking for ways of returning
via Armenia, Azerbaijan or even Turkey. The Foreign Ministry has
demanded that the Georgian authorities should not put up any obstacles.