Georgia’s Interior Ministry said on August 19 that 7,880 “citizens of various countries” crossed into Georgia from Russia through the Larsi border checkpoint in the previous 24 hours, rejecting reports and concerns that “20,000 Russian citizens” had entered the country through the checkpoint in a single day.
The ministry’s statement came a day after a report by Russia’s North Caucasus Customs Administration that over 20,000 passengers had crossed the Larsi checkpoint in a single day, alongside what it described as “a record number” of passenger cars.
The Russian agency did not specify whether the figure referred to people traveling from Russia to Georgia, from Georgia to Russia, or both, nor did it give the nationalities of those crossing. It noted, however, that more than 19,000 people had crossed the checkpoint on both August 15 and 16, figures it said “significantly exceed” those recorded during similar periods in previous years. It also said shifts had been reinforced and additional personnel deployed to increase capacity and speed up vehicle clearance.
The figures prompted concerns in Georgia over a possible surge in Russian arrivals.
The Interior Ministry said the reports were false and “serve the deliberate dissemination of disinformation by certain interested parties.” It said that, in the previous 24 hours, 7,880 “citizens of various countries” had crossed into Georgia through the Larsi checkpoint, while 8,406 had left the country through the same checkpoint. The ministry did not provide a breakdown of the figures by nationality.
“We call on all interested parties to refrain from disseminating unverified information, as well as from misinterpreting and disseminating various data in an inaccurate or distorted form,” the ministry added.
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