The people of Georgia are making it very clear that no one should expect Georgians to welcome people from a country that occupies 20% of Georgia's territory, US Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, stated in connection with the rally held in Batumi port, the participants of which are protesting the entry of a cruise ship from Sochi.

“It's not important what I think. What's important is what the people of Georgia think and they are making it very clear. No one should expect Georgians to welcome people from a country that occupies 20% of Georgia's territory, and that keeps families apart through artificial ABLs, that detains Georgian citizens and holds them sometimes for months at a time. No one should expect Georgians to welcome people from that country. And it doesn't matter whether it's by land or by sea. I think that Georgian people are making it very clear that they don't want this. They're using their constitutionally protected rights to express that feeling, to protest against this, and that is what is allowed in a democracy and that's allowed under Georgia’s constitution”, said the Ambassador.