Russia Begins Deporting Georgians
October 06, 2006
Russians at the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi on October 5 (ITAR-TASS)
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nino Kajaia said the plane carrying the deportees from Moscow was expected later today in Tbilisi.
The deportation is the latest in a series of sweeping measures against Georgian migrants, including tightening of immigration controls and raids on Georgian-owned businesses amid the fallout from a spying row between Moscow and Tbilisi.
A Moscow Education Department official today confirmed media reports that police had contacted schools to look for Georgian children whose parents might be illegal migrants, but an Interior Ministry spokesman denied them.
Russia has severed transport and postal links with Georgia in retaliation for the arrest of four Russian soldiers who were subsequently released.
In other news, President Mikheil Saakashvili says his National Movement party has won Georgia's municipal elections.
The Central Election Commission has yet to release preliminary official results, but Saakashvili cited exit polls released shortly after polling stations closed on October 5.
The opposition accused him of seeking to falsify the vote.
(Interfax, AFP, Reuters, AP)