TBILISI. Dec 6 (Interfax) - The Russian Federation Interests Section at the Swiss Embassy to Georgia has received formal notes from the Georgian Foreign Ministry about four arrested Russians, the section's head Dmitry Trofimov said in a comment on Friday.
"According to our information, as of this morning December 6, a total of eight Russians were apprehended these days under the 'protests' articles of the Georgian Code of Administrative Offenses [disobeying legitimate police orders, resistance, and public order violations]. At the same time, the Interests Section has at this point receive official notes of the Georgian Foreign Ministry about just four arrests. Therefore, the others have either been released already or not given their consent (as the law requires) to a transfer of the corresponding data to the diplomatic mission," the comment said.
The Section has no information about Russian citizens killed or seriously harmed during the protests, it said.
"I consider it necessary to again reiterate the strong recommendation to all Russian citizens currently in Georgia: in today's tough situation it is in the interest of your own safety to stay away from any hotbed of political tension and places where protests are taking place," the comment said.
The Section is always ready to provide necessary assistance to Russian citizens in distress, "but, first of all, our capabilities in the absence of diplomatic relations are limited, and secondly, it may take up to 7-10 days from the arrest of our citizen until we receive information about it," the Russian diplomat said.