DISINFO: Protests in Georgia were planned in advance to distort Georgian-Russian relations
SUMMARY
The disruption of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) in Georgia, followed by protests, was planned in advance to distort Georgian-Russian relations.
RESPONSE
This statement is untrue. The protests were spontaneous starting during the morning of June 20 when a Russian MP from the Communist Party, Sergei Gavrilov, addressed delegates from the Georgian Parliament Speaker's seat during an annual meeting of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). The opposition boycotted the presence of the Russian delegation in Tbilisi which then grew to the protests in front of the Parliament. As a response, Vladimir Putin has temporarily banned Georgian airlines from flying to Russia and called on Russian citizens in Georgia to leave the country.