Georgia mourns victims of Kemerovo tragedy together with Russia

Georgia is shocked by the Kemerovo tragedy, Georgian political scientists told the correspondents of Vestnik Kavkaza, expressing their condolences to the families of the victims of a fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall in Kemerovo.

The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, said that Georgia mourns together with Russia. "I've been talking to people a lot these days, and all Georgia mourns.  Everyone is shocked that in the last few minutes those children sent sms to their parents saying that they are suffocating and burning. There was a teacher Tatyana Darsalia among the victims, ethnic Georgian, she helped a part of the children and immediately returned to the fire, but could not get out. She had many relatives and friends in Georgia. These days there were condolences from all levels of the Georgian leadership to the Russian people over this tragedy," he said.

"In such cases, I feel nothing but sympathy for the victims and the families of those dead. Many in Georgia feel the same way, wondering how this could happen, a tragedy because of criminal negligence and sloppiness. Of course, fires, accidents happen everywhere, including in the most developed and rich countries, but this does not excuse those people, whose actions caused the death of the children. Let's hope that appropriate measures will be taken, because it should never be repeated," Petre Mamradze added.

The head of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Caucasus, Mamuka Areshidze, also noted that Georgia condoles the families of the dead and the whole of Russia. "This is a huge tragedy, and it's just inhuman to say otherwise - but there are some people who try to get some political dividends even from someone else's grief. In general, this is a terrible tragedy, and there are no other words, only condolences. We should be strong and consolidated in order to share the common pain," he said.

A member of the ‘Expert Club of Georgia’ Vakhtang Maisaya, also expressed his personal condolences to all those affected by this tragedy. "This is an absolute blasphemy, because the children were killed - the most terrible tragedy at the global level. I condole the families of the victims. The Georgian community perceived the fire in Kemerovo as a tragedy, all were united in expressing condolences, except for the nationalist minority. But they were a small minority, because Georgia mourns and expresses deep condolences to the families of the victims of this tragedy," the political scientist said.

"Such a tragedy could happen everywhere. The authorities, despite the absence of diplomatic relations with Russia, came out with public official statements to the Russian people. Georgia showed solidarity with all who perceived the tragedy as a personal grief, and I want to once again express my personal condolences to the families all the victims," Vakhtang Maisaya concluded.