Karasin: Radicals Used Demonstrations for Anti-Russian Agenda

"It is hard for me to realize that the radicals associated with the United National Movement managed to direct the 20-21 June rallies against Russia and lead the situation back to confrontation and hostility," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview with Kommersant newspaper.

"I hope that Tbilisi has already realized this," Karasin added, noting that as a result of the radicals’ activities, everything positive in the Georgian-Russian relations which the sides have jointly created since 2012, is now in danger.

“It is painful for me to see that the provocateurs and the enemies of Russia were able to use the demonstrations for anti-Russian Agenda. It was followed by rough and irresponsible statements by the high-ranking politicians of Georgia”, he said, going on to state that Georgia might have forgotten that Russia has its own opinions about honesty and dignity and "it is not in their tradition to swallow rudeness and threats against the Russian people".

“We had to calculate and neutralize risks in advance. I hope our reaction was a lesson for those who want to cynically earn points in the political games at the expense of the anti-Russian rhetoric and threats", Karasin stated.

The visit of three Russian MPs to Georgia within the framework of a session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held at the Parliament building was followed by severe protests by the public and opposition MPs on June 20, especially due to the fact that Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov sat in the parliamentary Speaker’s chair.

By Ana Dumbadze