Georgia Delays Organization of Chechen Refugees' Voluntary Return

Georgia has announced its readiness to continue "constructive" work with Russia's inter-departmental working group for Chechen refugees' voluntary return, said the Georgian Foreign Ministry's official representative Kakha Sikharulidze at a press conference.

When giving comments on the statement made by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko, who said that Georgia had not handed over lists of Chechen refugees willing to return home to their Russian colleagues, Sikharulidze said that it was due to the fact that certain parameters of the refugees database were allegedly highly classified and could not be sent to some other country to avoid misunderstandings.

Moreover, one of the principles for refugees' voluntary return is provision of real security guarantees, according to Sikharulidze.