MOSCOW. Oct 29 (Interfax) - Plans by the Georgian authorities to ban Bolshevik and Soviet symbols is a sign of disrespect for veterans of this state, said Ivan Melnikov, State Duma Deputy Speaker and First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Communist Party's Central Committee.
"I really feel for those people who will fall innocent victims of this policy by the Georgian authorities. To put it bluntly, it is a caddish act towards the veterans who have served Georgia for many years," Melnikov told journalists on Friday.
He was commenting on reports that the Georgian parliament could ban the use of Bolshevik and Soviet symbols by adopting the so-called Freedom Charter. This document also bans former members of the Georgian Communist Party, Komsomol and KGB agents from certain jobs in the public sector.
"That the current Georgian leaders are not democrats at all but ordinary cave barbarians became obvious to us when the monument to Soviet soldiers in Kutaisi was blown up. So this is not a persecution of communist symbols but a cheap anti-communist show," Melnikov said.
The people of Georgia will punish their rulers one day, he said. "They will be punished for this not by us but by their own people when the time comes," the deputy speaker said.
"Since they [the Georgian authorities] are so zealous in their attempts to oust former KGB agents and communists, it means all is not smooth in the kingdom of Saakashvili, it means that it instills fear of the power of the justice ideology," he said.
"I can guarantee to the Georgian authorities that from now on we communists will appear in their nightmares, and later time will tell," Melnikov said.