MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has called on Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria to provide assistance in protecting the rights of Russian citizens, who are staying in the country.

"The Tbilisi events arouse great concerns…I call on Georgia’s Public Defender Nino Lomjaria to provide assistance in ensuring the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens in Georgia," the Russian ombudswoman’s press service quoted her as saying.

The events currently happening in Georgia "are unacceptable in a society, which is determined to respect and protect human values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," she noted.

The ombudsperson stressed that the Russian delegation had arrived at the session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) at the invitation of the Georgian side to discuss humanitarian and spiritual aspects of cooperation between the nations of the same religion, who share common history of several centuries. "Unfortunately, instead of a cultural dialogue, the rights of the entire Russian delegation led by MP Sergei Gavrilov were violated. Moreover, their life was in hazard and they were forced to immediately leave the country," she added.

In addition, a film crew of the Russia 24 TV channel was attacked and thousands of Russian tourists were forced to cut short their vacation to immediately return home, she noted.

Events in Tbilisi

On June 20, several thousand protesters gathered near the building of the national parliament in downtown Tbilisi, demanding the resignation of the interior minister and the parliament’s speaker, and tried to storm it. In response, police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators. Some 305 demonstrators were detained, 240 people were injured, and 55 of them remain in hospitals.

The protests were sparked by an uproar over a Russian State Duma delegation’s participation in the 26th session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). On June 20, IAO President Sergei Gavrilov opened the session in the Georgian parliament. Opposition lawmakers were outraged by the fact that Gavrilov addressed the event’s participants from the parliament speaker’s seat. In protest, they did not allow the IAO session to continue. Media reports claimed that Gavrilov had allegedly participated in combat actions in Abkhazia and Transnistria, although he dismissed this as fake news.

The General Assembly was wrapped up on June 20 and later the Russian parliamentarians flew to Moscow. According to Gavrilov, after the session the delegation members were attacked when they were talking to journalists and threats were voiced against them.

On June 21, Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze tendered his resignation amid protests.