GEORGIAN CITIZENS BUY ARMENIANS PASSPORTS FOR $5,000 IN RUSSIA
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 24 2006
Since Russia has imposed sanctions on Georgia, about 1,000 of Georgians
have been deported from Russia.
Russian media reports that about 200 people are preparing to leave for
Georgia. Moscow City Court explained that the courts make decisions on
deportation of those citizens who violate the migration legislation of
Russia. Meanwhile, during the last two weeks, Georgians having Moscow
residency applied to local civilian registry offices to change their
surnames and even names and get more Russian ones. In connection with
the tension of Georgian-Russian relations, the citizens of Georgia who
want to illegally emigrate to Russia and get more comfortable living
conditions, acquire Armenian citizenship and replace the endings
"dze" and "shvili" in their surnames into Armenian "yan." According
to some data, such "masking" costs $5,000.
It is noteworthy that Head of Public Relations and Press Office of
the Armenian Police Sayat Shirinyan has refuted this information. "It
is impossible for Georgian citizens to get Armenians passports,"
he said. "A Georgian citizen can acquire Armenian citizenship only
by expatriating himself from his citizenship," he said.