TBILISI. Feb 24 (Interfax) - A senior Georgian lawmaker on Tuesday demanded that Georgia immediately react to a population census in Abkhazia that started on Monday and "is illegal as 300,000 [ethnic] Georgians have been ousted from it."
Deputy parliamentary chairman Paata Davitaia, speaking at a parliament session, demanded that the legislature's foreign relations committee and the Foreign Ministry "immediately react to what is one more act by the puppet regime that runs against all international standards."
He claimed that the census had been demanded by Russia, which, he alleged, seeks "the legitimization of anti-Georgian ethnic cleansing that has been carried out in the region."