Russia’s Duma says Georgia’s unilateral steps on visas impractical

Georgian government’s unilateral decision to abolish travel visas for the Russian citizens residing in a few republics of North Caucasus is little more than an empty image-building action, chairman of the Duma foreign policy committee, Konstantin Kosachev said.

«These statements are but a PR action undertaken by President Mikhail Saakashvili, — he said. – They are aimed at the minds of people in third countries in order to affect their ideas of what’s happening in our relations».

Kosachev added that the target audience in this case finds it difficult to tell where the northern and southern zones of the Caucasus are located.

He also said the practical implementation of the measure is scarcely possible, as Russian citizens use foreign passports while traveling abroad and the Interior in this country does not make any notes in these passports on where their holders live.

“That’s why it’s impossible to tell from a foreign passport what regions its holder comes from,” Kosachev said.

He dismissed the Georgian government’s decision to lift the visas for residents of just one area rather than for all the citizens of a given country.