Victoria Panfilova, NG observer, exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Another scandal raises the possibility of another row in Georgian-Russian relations – the Russian flag was burnt in Poti. Despite the absence of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, the Georgian side will receive a protest note from Russia. Probably Moscow’s position will be stated at consultations in Geneva or at direct Russian-Georgian talks in Prague between the deputy foreign minister of Russia, Grigory Karasin, and the special envoy of Georgian Premier on relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze.
At the same time, the situation wasn’t a big deal and could have been avoided. Initiators of the musical festival Fazisoba-2013 (Fazis is an ancient name of Poti) should have thought about the consequences before decorating the city. No special decoration took place, according to residents of Poti. There was traditional hanging-up of flags of the countries which participated in the festival. But for some people appearance of the Russian flag was unbearable: during the August war of 2008 Russian troops intruded Poti. It is an important port and Russian troops’ behavior was justified by tactics. According to some information, there were casualties among the civilian population.
The new Georgian authorities declared an important and necessary goal - the improvement of relations with Russia. However, one thing is to set a goal which is really necessary to Georgia at least for exporting its production or increasing the Russian tourist inflow to the country; and another thing is to change the worldview of the local society, its attitude to Russia, which is not really positive. The Georgians emphasize that their attitude is directed not against the Russians, but against the Russian state, it aggressive policy, “occupation of the Georgian territories.” Only a small part of the Georgian population truly believes that relations between the countries should be normalized today. Under these negative circumstances insulting of the Russian flag couldn’t be a surprise, and the initiators of the festival had to predict it and decorate Poti in a different way.
The incident reflects the current political atmosphere in Georgia. The former mayor of Poti, member of the United National Movement, Vakhtang Lemondzhava, stated that no normal country would invite to a musical festival an invader and its flags would not be put up.
The festival was organized by an independent children studio “White Gull.” They quickly stated that have nothing to do with the incident. A representative of the studio told that he addressed city hall to help in decorating the festival, but nobody discussed flags. Poti Mayor David Sarsania also tried to distance himself from the scandal, noting that the local administration wasn’t involved into the festival, and the city hall didn’t order to hang up flags of Russia or other countries. He also made a controversial statement: “As I found out, Russia was not invited to the festival, and its representatives wanted to participate in it by their own initiative. I have already ordered to take off all flags hanged up in Poti.”
Despite the music comedy style of the story, it is a very serious aspect. Such deeds are interpreted in the world as the highest form of insulting of a state and often have serious consequences. But it could have been avoided, if initiators of the festival had been more careful and responsible.
