MHG: Georgian natives will be raided on in Moscow

Liudmila Alexeeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) told in her interview to Radio Liberty that the law enforcement bodies may start detaining Georgian natives in Moscow.

In particular, according to her words, today morning, a district militia officer came to a dwelling block of flats in Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo District, where several families of Georgian refugees from Abkhazia have been living for fifteen years already, and told them that they all would be arrested.

Alexeeva finds these actions of the authorities to be a flagrant violation of human rights.

Yesterday, October 3, Moscow law enforcement bodies examined or closed the entities belonging to Georgian natives.

Thus, as "Novye Izvestia" reports, the employees of the Department for Economic Security of the Russian Ministry of Interior suspended the work of the "Kristall" Entertainment Complex in the Marksistskaya Street.

According to operative data, the Complex is controlled by criminal leaders of Georgian origin.

In the city of Khimki near Moscow, the law enforcement agencies suspended the operation of "Sheleshashvili" cafe. They told "Interfax" at the Interior Administration (Service for Fighting Economic Crime) for the Moscow Region, examination of the warehouse of "Sheleshashvili" cafe-shop at 1 Burdenko Street revealed 1440 bottles of alcohol beverages, for which Revaz Sheleshashvili, Director of the cafe, had no retail sale license. Besides, the federal stamp on product samples had fake features, the Interior Service stated.

The alcohol was withdrawn from circulation, and the cafe suspended. The "Interfax" source informed that an issue is considered on starting a criminal case.

Another operation was undertaken by militiamen in the centre of Moscow: the checked the building of the "Tbilisi House of Guests" in the Skatertny Pereulok.

"We are holding an operation aimed to bring the activities of the "Tbilisi House of Guests," located at 13, Skatertny Pereulok, into conformity with the Russian legislation," a source in law enforcement bodies told "Interfax" on Tuesday.

The source told that the "operation" was conducted by the regiments of the Russian Ministry of Interior in charge of fighting organized crime.

Earlier, the Administration of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) of Russia for Moscow confirmed the fact of exclusion of Russia of 13 citizens of Georgia detained in the Eastern Administrative Okrug of the capital. Later, Mikhail Tyurkin, Deputy Director of the Federal Migration Service (FMS), told that during the first half of 2006 only about a thousand citizens of Georgia were deported from Russia.

Many people think that frequented examinations of Georgian natives are a form of pressure on the Georgian state in connection with aggravation of Russian-Georgian relations.

We remind you also that Russia has suspended the air, railway, motor and postal communications with Georgia. The economic sanctions are a development of the spy scandal burst out in Georgia on September 27.

The correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" informed earlier that the Georgia authorities announced detainment in Tbilisi of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Savva and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitri Kazantsev; in Batumi they detained Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Zavgorodniy and Major Alexander Baranov. Later in Georgia two more Russian servicemen were detained - Amir Aslanyan and Ruslan Skrylnikov. They are all accused by Georgia of running reconnaissance activities in the territory of the country. The Russian party appraised the actions of Georgian power structures as provocative and requested an immediate release of Russian soldiers. On September 28, Russia recalled its ambassador from Georgia. On October 2, Georgia handed the detainees to OSCE representatives, and they were sent to Russia.