Tbilisi's Monument Desecration, Provocation Against Pozner Are Interrelated - Moscow

Moscow sees the recent desecration of the monument to Russian poet Alexander Griboyedov in Tbilisi, and the provocation against Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner as links in a chain, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2021) Moscow sees the recent desecration of the monument to Russian poet Alexander Griboyedov in Tbilisi, and the provocation against Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner as links in a chain, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Friday.

Unknown persons wrote "Russia is evil" on the pedestal of the monument a day after the provocation against Pozner. Activists, angered by Pozner's past comments in support of the independence of the partially-recognized Republic of Abkhazia, threw eggs at the hotel he was staying in, and clashed with police.

The journalist, who arrived in the Georgian capital to celebrate his 87th birthday, promptly left the city.

"We see this incident and the recent provocation against well-known Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner as links in a chain. We see this as an attempt of Georgia's extremist forces to use any pretext to hinder the process of normalization of the Russian-Georgian relations," Zakharova said in a comment, released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.