Russian MP denies occupation of Georgian regions at interparliamentary session on Orthodoxy
Three Russian MPs have come to the capital of Tbilisi to participate in the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. Photo: Capture from the video by Prime Time.
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Russian MP Alexey Chepa, who is currently paying a visit to Georgia to attend the interparliamentary session on Orthodoxy, has denied occupation of Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) by Russia.
Occupation? Please, do not make me laugh,” he said.
Has also called for the return of the Soviet Union, and for the countries of the former USSR to be reunited.
A number of people have protested the arrival of the Russian delegation to Georgia to participate in the event.
Chepa noted that this is an issue decided upon by international organisations, not people.
Who are the protesters? Different people live in Georgia… Many of them invited me to visit them when they heard I was on my way to Tbilisi,” he said.
Three Russian MPs have come to the capital of Tbilisi to participate in the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy which is being held for the first time in the country.
The event was interrupted by strong protest from the Georgian public and opposition after one of the visiting MPs addressed the audience of the assembly from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair.
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has announced its judgment today in the case of Georgia v. Russia, regarding the arrest, detention and collective expulsion of Georgian nationals from Russia in the autumn of 2006.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gregory Karasin says that the “tone used” towards Russia by US State Secretary Mike Pompeo during his meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze “is not something that is in Russian interests.”
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that it was very difficult for him to see a Russian MP speak from the seat of the Georgian parliamentary chair. He says that the fact “affects national interests and the Georgian parliament.”
Georgian opposition MPs have interrupted the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) after a Russian MP and president of the assembly, Sergey Gavrilov addressed the audience from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair earlier today.
Russian MPs who participated in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held in the Georgian parliament earlier today are leaving Georgia after an incident took place when Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker, Tbilisi Mayor, Secretary General of the Georgian Dream ruling party Kakha Kaladze says.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov has claimed "radicals" in the Parliament of Georgia doused him in water and attempted to forcefully take his papers in an incident at the lawmaking body in Tbilisi on Thursday.
Georgian Foreign Ministry official Vladimir Konstantinidi says the Foreign Ministry agrees with the ‘fair’ public protest regarding the Russian MPs’ visit to Georgia. He stated the Foreign Ministry permanently raises the issue of the occupation of two of the country’s regions as this is the key priority for the agency.
Russian Foreign Ministry has reacted to today’s incident in the Georgian parliament, when Russian MPs were forced to leave the building where they were attending the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.
Morning of June 20 protests outside Georgian parliament
Political opposition and part of the public erupted in protest in Tbilisi on Thursday after a Russian State Duma MP took a seat of the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia for an address to the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in the capital.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has called for "calm" amid unrest in Tbilisi as protesting crowds have been dispersed by police using tear gas in front of the parliament building.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered a ban on flights to Georgia as part of Russian state reaction to protest in Tbilisi following a Duma MP's appearance in the Tbilisi parliament.
The Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia Ihor Dolhov temporarily left the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in protest when the member of the Russian parliament Sergei Gavrilov was addressing the audience in Tbilisi.