European Council to discuss deportation of Georgians from Russia

The Council of Europe plans to discuss the issues of the arrest, detention and expulsion from the Russian Federation of large numbers of Georgian nationals from October 2006 until the end of January 2007 amounting to an administrative practice, reads information published on the council’s official webpage.

As reported, the representatives of 47 member states of the Council of Europe will examine the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights between 8 and 10 March 2016.

The cases proposed for more detailed examination concern Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic and Turkey (full list of cases). The decisions and resolutions adopted, together with working documents, will be made public shortly after the meeting, on the website of the Committee of Ministers.

The fact that thousands of Georgians were deported from Russia just prior to the war is one of the evidence that Russia was preparing for something; that these issues are now being discussed at high level events should serve as a symbol of the EU keeping faith with Georgia in lieu of detractors accusing Brussels of making false promises.

Georgia needs to be in the focus of the international community.

The actions also indicate towards Russian policy; in 2008, Russia’s energy giant Gazprom also suspended supplying gas to Georgia in the winter.

It is good that the international community is showing an interest in Georgian affairs, but the main problem remains unsettled.

Even in case the European body recognizes Russia’s faults, Russia will definitely ignore such allegations, along with any anti-Russian statements or agreements.

The reality is that Russia is not afraid of existing international responses, which enables the Federation to act mainly as it wishes.