Amendments initiated by the Georgian Justice Ministry allow Abkhazia and South Ossetia to have dual citizenship and restore Georgian citizenship more easily. One of the problems separating Georgia with the two self-proclaimed republics is passports. Georgia does not recognize Russian passports in the breakaway republics and developed neutral passports that have no Georgian state symbols and allow the population to visit other countries.
A Vestnik Kavkaza expert Andrey Petrov said that adoption of neutral passports would require scraping Russian passports without becoming a Georgian citizen, thus, being in an intermediate state. He noted that the Justice Ministry offered a compromise, allowing people to keep Russian citizenship. The demand for neutral passports did not grow, nonetheless. Yet, it was the first practical step towards a humanitarian dialogue with Abkhazia and South Ossetia made in early 2014.
Petrov clarified that simplification of procedures for restoration of Georgian citizenship meant that people will no longer need to pass tests in history and basics of the law, the two subjects where Georgian views are opposite to those of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. According to the Georgian version of history, the two republics are Georgian territory occupied by Russia. The expert added that language tests were neutral to political views.
Amendments initiated by the Georgian Justice Ministry allow Abkhazia and South Ossetia to have dual citizenship and restore Georgian citizenship more easily. One of the problems separating Georgia with the two self-proclaimed republics is passports. Georgia does not recognize Russian passports in the breakaway republics and developed neutral passports that have no Georgian state symbols and allow the population to visit other countries.A Vestnik Kavkaza expert Andrey Petrov said that adoption of neutral passports would require scraping Russian passports without becoming a Georgian citizen, thus, being in an intermediate state. He noted that the Justice Ministry offered a compromise, allowing people to keep Russian citizenship. The demand for neutral passports did not grow, nonetheless. Yet, it was the first practical step towards a humanitarian dialogue with Abkhazia and South Ossetia made in early 2014.Petrov clarified that simplification of procedures for restoration of Georgian citizenship meant that people will no longer need to pass tests in history and basics of the law, the two subjects where Georgian views are opposite to those of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. According to the Georgian version of history, the two republics are Georgian territory occupied by Russia. The expert added that language tests were neutral to political views
