OREANDA-NEWS. December 2, 2009. The actions of the Georgian authorities have finally confirmed the desire of the current Georgian regime to break all that which still continues to bind the Russians and Georgians.

Two Russian scholars – S. V. Mironenko, Director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, and N. Y. Silayev, a Senior Research Fellow at the MGIMO Center of Caucasian Studies and Director of the independent Center for Humanitarian Cooperation – were denied entry at Tbilisi airport on December 1 without explaining the reasons.

The program of the trip envisioned several meetings with Georgian experts, including round tables with the participation of the Georgian Institute of Russian Studies and the Tbilisi School of Political Studies.

This action cannot but cause regret. Humanitarian contacts between Russia and Georgia should not be interrupted, in spite of the difficulties that now beset relations between the two countries.

This behavior confirms official Tbilisi’s panicky fear of an open and unbiased debate on difficult issues. It is a disturbing symptom, because it attests to a total blocking of ties between representatives of the scientific elite of the two countries that are disagreeable to the current leadership.