Georgian authorities argue with opposition because of forum participants from Russia (+video)

The international South Caucasian forum with participation of Russian journalists and political analysts has begun against the backdrop of a protest action. Four Russian participants of the event were not allowed to enter the territory of Georgia.

In Tbilisi, during the media forum "The role of the media in building confidence in the region", dozens of people gathered at the entrance to the hotel which hosted the event and began to boo forum participants.

The protesters have voiced the opinion that the forum is a working meeting to spread anti-Western propaganda and accompanied Russian journalists with exclamations: "Russia is an invader," the "InterPressNews" reports.

"We wanted to explain to them that as long as Russia does not withdraw its troops from our territory, we have nothing to talk about with Russia," said Irina Tsaadze, a participant of the protest action, as quoted by the "InterPressNews".

According to Viktor Litovkin, a TASS observer, he himself, Alexei Tokarev, a researcher from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (known as MGIMO), and Gennady Bordyugov, the chair of the International Council of the Association of Russian Society Researchers, were not allowed to enter Georgia.

Russian political analyst Alan Kasaev was also returned back on the border, the "Georgia Online" reports.

The forum is absolutely of neutral nature, assured Anzhelika Trapeznikova, one of the organizers of the event.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 5, 2018 at 02:05 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.