Experts see no political motives in closure of "Union of Georgians in Russia"

Konstantin Zatulin, President of the Institute for CIS countries, sees the reason for the closure of the "Union of Georgians in Russia" in bureaucratic formalities. Levon Mukanyan, Vice-President of the "Union of Armenians of Russia", treats the "Union of Georgians in Russia" as an active pro-Russian organization.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Russian Supreme Court (SC) made a decision to close the "Union of Georgians in Russia" (UGR), an organization of the Georgian Diaspora. According to Mikhail Khubutiya, President of the "Union of Georgians in Russia", the decision was made after an anonymous complaint to the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

Meanwhile, in April, following the results of the inspection, the Russian MoJ issued a resolution to bring the UGR leaders to administrative responsibility. According to the MoJ, out of 46 registered regional branches of the "Union of Georgians in Russia", only 34 branches were operating, and many of them were active only on paper. Meanwhile, several persons have claimed being not involved in the work of the organization, although their names are on the list of its local branches.

Yana Yurova, the press secretary of Mikhail Khubutiya, has noted that the video of the recent Congress of the "Union of Georgians in Russia" records members of almost all regional branches with detailed reports on their activities.

At present, according to Andro Ivanov, a press officer of the organization, the "Union of Georgians in Russia" is experiencing an influx of new members.

Levon Mukanyan, Vice-President of the "Union of Armenians of Russia," has suggested that the possible solution could be the re-registration of the UGR in a federal national-cultural autonomy.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.