Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Irakli Kobakhidze said the government anticipated a new wave of xenophobia with the tourist season’s drawing closer, stating the “prognosis came true.”

According to Kobakhidze, there were three other similar waves in the past connected to Russia’s war against Ukraine, a tourist season and Russia’s declaring military mobilization.

“All these xenophobia campaign attempts to generate emotions were unsuccessful, and I don’t think it will be successful in the future because xenophobia is not in the character of the Georgian society,” he said, adding this was “a branch of the liberal-fascist campaign.”

The GD Chair called on everyone to refrain from xenophobic campaigns since “there is no place of xenophobia in Georgia.”

Irakli Kobakhidze could not confirm presence of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’ family members or any other sanctioned persons in the country saying he did not have “verified information” but was “relying on the information of the hotel administration.”

Reportedly, family members of Sergey Lavrov (Russian FM) are staying at the Kvareli Lake hotel in the Kakheti region of Georgia.

On May 19, the hotel administration rejected having a guest with the surname of Lavrov. Later the media verified identities of the Russian visitors.