Influential human rights organization Freedom House based in Washington DC published another report titled “The Erosion of Democracy in Russia Continues” on the worsening of situation with protection of civil and political rights in Russia. Together with other issues the report points out the facts of persecution of ethnic Georgians and pressuring of mass media outlets in that country:
“Russia’s already poor relations with Georgia broke down further that fall, when Georgian authorities temporarily detained a group of Russian servicemen as spies. Russia responded in part by harassing ethnic Georgians, many of them citizens of the Russian Federation. It deported more than 1,000 Georgians migrants, ordered tax checks on prominent Georgians, and closed many Georgian-owned businesses. Some Russian and western observers denounced these policies aimed against a specific ethnic group as shameful.
Source: Media.ge