Russian Side Comments on Developments around Rustavi 2 TV

Russian lawmakers responded to the offensive speech of one of the journalists of the Rustavi 2 TV channel Giorgi Gabunia directed towards President Vladimir Putin.

A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, described the incident with just two words: "a disaster for Georgia" in a conversation with the Tass news agency.

„This is a disaster for Georgia”, she stated. 

Yevgeny Primakov, a member of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, believes that it is necessary to "freeze" the Russian-Georgian relations after journalist Giorgi Gabunia insulted Putin.

"Georgian TV channel and its character Gabunia are at a quite low level now, so we are no more surprised. The President of Georgia denounced the character Gabunia, however, we have not heard an apology", - Primakov says in his" telegram-channel".

The MP of the State Duma expressed regret that "entire Georgia will be affected because of one of the TV anchor's behavior".

“Apparently, there has been a long pause after the Russian travel ban to Georgia. The sanctions will continue”, he noted.  

Sergei Kalashnikov, a member of the Russian Federation’s Information Council Committee, called Gabunia’s speech “hooliganism” and noted that there is no need to respond to his action.

„There is no need to react to Georgian journalist’s offensive speech and harassment directed towards the Russian President. It was just hooliganism, which shows a lack of culture. Our state should not respond to this behavior. There is no need to take certain measures, as it means that then we will be at the same low level“, stated Russian Senator Sergei Kalashnikov.

Rustavi 2 anchor Giorgi Gabunia insulted Vladimir Putin on Sunday night. The monologue, very offensive to Putin in its form and context, was read in Russian by him during the live broadcast. 

Gabunia’s statement comes amid street rallies in Georgia, which were sparked by 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 on June 20, which was followed by severe protests by the public and opposition MPs, especially due to the fact that Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov sat in the parliamentary Speaker’s chair, speaking in Russian.

By Ana Dumbadze