Gavrilov Dislikes Georgian Parliament Speaker’s Chair

Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov, who was forced to leave Georgia following anger at his speech from the seat of the Georgian Parliament Speaker, talked with TV channel "NTV" about the June 20 developments when the clashes occurred between police and demonstrators outside of the Parliament in Tbilisi.

According to him, the Russian delegation did not expect protests and disorders in Tbilisi.

As Gavrilov noted, the delegations of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly received security guarantees, but later the opposition leader's statement was handed over to him, saying that "Gavrilov's visit is undesirable because he participated in the military operations in Abkhazia."

Gavrilov says that this is the wrong information.

“I’ve never participated in military operations. If I've ever been in such hotspots, only under the humanitarian mission - to help the Christians", - he stated.

Gavrilov says that the opposition was especially irritated due to the fact that he sat in Parliament Speaker's chair, however, it was in accordance with the protocol and such things happen in all countries.

Russian MP also claimed that he didn’t like the parliamentary Speaker’s chair at all, as it wasn’t comfortable.

“What kind of a chair it was? It wasn’t very cozy, or comfortable. However, we are humble people and we can work even on wooden chairs”, Gavrilov said. 

Earlier Gavrilov noted that many politicians in Georgia are working on improving relations with Russia, but the influence of radicals and extremists in the country is very strong, and Russians will not travel to Georgia until the government will not restore order and apologize Russia and other countries for the incident.

By Ana Dumbadze