“Some waved Georgian flag” and Russians blocked church’s door – Patriarchate spokesperson

Andria Jaghmaidze, the Spokesperson of the Georgian Patriarchate, on Thursday said the Russian-controlled occupation forces blocked a church’s door in the Kirbali village of central Georgian Gori municipality, near the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, after “someone waved a Georgian flag” there. 

In his comments from the St. George’s church in the village of Mleta, Dusheti municipality in the country’s north, the cleric responded to the reports earlier this week, which said Russians had blocked the Mleta church, noting such “controversial and unverified” claims were “harmful”. 

“This year, our pilgrims and clerics were allowed in the [Kirbali] church, but someone waved the Georgian flag there, which became the reason for the Russian military to take stricter measures – to block the door and restrict entry there”, Jaghmaidze said, and added the action was “thoughtless, immeasurable, and allegedly in the name of patriotism, which ended up by the blocking of the church’s door”. 

He noted the territories of central Georgia were occupied after the 2008 war with Russia, and the Russian-controlled forces were present there since then, before saying “Let’s not create negative expectations that something similar might happen in this area, as it happens elsewhere”.