The authors of the xenophobic campaign have nothing to do with true Georgian and European values. Xenophobia and chauvinism have never been and will never be a part of Georgian culture, Chairman of the Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, Irakli Kobakhidze said at the briefing.

He called on everyone to distance themselves from the anti-state and discriminatory campaign, the sole purpose of which is to turn Georgia into a second front.

According to him, the people who introduced visa-free travel regime for Russian citizens partially in 2010 and fully in February 2012, 3 years after the end of the Russian-Georgian war, are today demanding the introduction of visa regime for Russian citizens.

"As you know, the party of war and treason, represented by the National Movement, its satellite parties, its own media outlets, commercial entities affiliated with it and some of the richest NGOs, at the beginning of March launched a completely shameful xenophobic and chauvinistic campaign against Russian citizens in Georgia. With this campaign, they convinced a certain part of the population for a few days that Russians were entering Georgia in an unprecedentedly large number, which, according to them, contained serious risks for the country's sovereignty and security. However, five months have passed since March, and everyone is convinced that the inflow of Russians in unprecedented numbers was a lie made up the by the war party. For several days, they have been trying to launch the second wave of xenophobic campaign. In this case, too, they are trying to convince the public that Russians have entered Georgia in an unprecedentedly large number and that this poses serious threats to the country. Traditionally, they try to form this perception by grossly falsifying the facts. For example, a few days ago, one of the TV stations belonging to the war party assured the public that the number of Russians in Georgia was equal to 10 percent of the population of Georgia," said Kobakhidze.

According to him, in fact, the number of Russian citizens who entered Georgia this year is three times lower than the respective number in 2019.

"In addition, according to the border crossing data, the number of Russian citizens, who entered Georgia after the beginning of the war on February 24 and are in Georgia as of July 31, is less than 110 thousand, which is not even 3 percent of the population of Georgia. Besides, most of them are Georgian by nationality. We cannot make a serious comment on the statements, according to which, these people are not tourists, but military and special service employees. If there is something that poses a serious threat to our country, it is precisely the xenophobic and chauvinist campaign. We remind you that as a result of this campaign, a serious incident occurred in March, when a young woman of Russian nationality, who came to Georgia three years ago, was attacked in the center of Tbilisi. The authors of the xenophobic campaign have nothing to do with true Georgian or European values. Xenophobia and chauvinism have never been and will never be a part of Georgian culture," Kobakhidze said.

As the chairman of the ruling party declared, the war rhetoric is heard from Eka Gigauri, Nino Lomjaria, Davit Usupashvili, Zurab Chiaberashvili, Vakho Sanaia, Misha Mshvildadze, Tengiz Gogotishvili, Giorgi Margvelashvili, senior officials of the Ukrainian Government and foreign lobbyists of the National ­Movement.

“All this serves the only purpose - to somehow drag Georgia into the military conflict. The Georgia­n Dream condemns the xenophobic campaign, which blatantly contradicts the Constitution of Georgia and international legal acts relating to fundamental human rights and freedoms. We would like to remind the society once again that the involvement of Georgia in the military conflict, something that the war party and its partners want, will bring the most severe consequences for our country and its population. Accordingly, the Government will do its best to prevent war", Irakli Kobakhidze said.