Russia’s 2020 census puts number of ethnic Georgians at 113,687

Russia’s 2020 population census says 113,687 ethnic Georgians live on its territory, challenging the claims by the Georgian Dream authorities on the presence of “one million” Georgians in the country, who as they said where expected to benefit from the Kremlin’s decision on Wednesday to lift visa regime and travel restrictions with Tbilisi.

 

Out of the 113,687 ethnic Georgians, 8,177 were from Georgia’s currently Russian occupied Abkhazia region and 323 from another occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, Rostat said. 

 

Per the census, only 3,045 individuals in Russia hold Georgian citizenship, including 644 from Abkhazia and 333 from Tskhinvali. 

 

The total number of the individuals in Russia who were born in Georgia regardless of ethnicity were put at 196,610. 

 

Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibahsvili on Thursday claimed Russia’s move was “positive” from the humanitarian point of view and would ease the travel for the “one million Georgians” who he said lived in Russia. 

 

The comment came following the warnings from the country’s western partners that the resumption of flights could lead to sanctions to the companies using Georgian airports.