Cruise Ship With Russian Tourists Expelled from Batumi to the Sounds of the Ukrainian Anthem

The cruise ship Astoria Grande, carrying around 800 Russian tourists, had to leave the port of Batumi amid the playing of the national anthems of Georgia and Ukraine.

This is reported by ukrayina.pl.

This followed protests in Tbilisi and Batumi. Protesters displayed placards with messages such as "Russia is depriving us of our homeland, life, and future," "No to Russification politics," and "The Georgian people won't become Russians."

Protests also took place in the Georgian capital, where several civil activists burned the Russian flag near the parliament building.

The outrage was sparked by some Russian tourists' statements claiming that "Russia liberated Abkhazia from Georgians," and some of them admitted to visiting Abkhazia, which is considered a violation of Georgia's "occupied territories" law.

Meanwhile, the Georgian Association of Young Lawyers called on the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs to respond appropriately and take action against those who violated Georgian law. These individuals were Russian citizens who confessed to visiting Abkhazia, which, according to the lawyers, constitutes a "violation of the law on occupied territories."

During the protests in the port of Batumi, demonstrators also chanted slogans such as "Russian ship, go away" and "Abkhazia is Georgia." They brought photos depicting Abkhazia and events from the August 2008 war. An hour after the start of the protest, the cruise ship departed from the port of Batumi.

Abkhazia was an autonomous republic within Georgia during Soviet times. After the dissolution of the USSR, it declared independence. In August 1992, Georgia sent its troops to Abkhazia, but they encountered armed resistance, including from Russian and Chechen mercenaries. The armed conflict, which resulted in Georgia losing control over Abkhazia, ended on August 30, 1993.

As a result of the conflict, around 200,000 ethnic Georgians were expelled from Abkhazia. Since then, the so-called republic has sought recognition of its independence, which has been supported only by five countries: Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, and Syria. Tbilisi considers Abkhazia a part of Georgia and offers it broad autonomy within Georgia.

Tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi have only escalated. On August 7, 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, claiming that its mission was "peacekeeping" to protect the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The war between Russia and Georgia lasted five days, during which Georgia lost 20% of its territory. In 2008, after the war with Georgia, Russia stationed its troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and recognized the independence of these entities. It took Georgia 13 years to resolve the situation, with the court ruling that Russia's occupation of Georgian territories was unlawful. However, the European Court of Human Rights has yet to determine the amount of compensation Russia must pay for violating international law.

It is worth noting that in May, protests were held in Georgia in response to the resumption of direct air travel with Russia. Previously, Putin abolished the visa requirement for Georgian citizens and lifted the ban on direct flights between Russia and Georgia. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili called the decision of the Kremlin dictator a "further provocation." She emphasized that as long as Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine and occupies Georgian territory, the resumption of direct air travel and the lifting of the visa regime with Georgia are unacceptable.