After State Security Council Meeting, Officials Say Georgia ‘Stepping Up Border Control’

Georgia’s State Security and Crisis Management Council said after a holding meeting on Wednesday, chaired by PM Irakli Garibashvili, that the country was “taking additional security measures” at borders and “strategic facilities” following the November 13 Paris terror attacks.

Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli told journalists after the meeting that the additional security measures were taken as a precaution, not because there was any “immediate threat”.

“The measures include stepping up border controls, but it does not in any way mean imposing restrictions,” Mindia Janelidze, secretary of the State Security and Crisis Management Council, told reporters after the meeting.

He also said that security of “strategic facilities and critical infrastructure” will also be stepped up.
 
Head of the State Security Service, Vakhtang Gomelauri, said after the meeting that “stricter border control” has been imposed, applying especially to “visitors from Asia and Africa as we maximally try to prevent the use of our country as a transit route to Syria.”

Deputy Head of the State Security Service, Levan Izoria, said on November 16 that “dozens of foreign citizens” were denied entry into Georgia because of suspicion that they were en route to Syria via Georgia and Turkey.

“In those cases we are being guided by a list, which includes thousands of people, provided by our strategic partners – that includes not only those who are active terrorists, but also potential terrorists. We do not let such people to enter into Georgia, we send them back,” Izoria said in an interview with Maestro TV on November 16 and added that more than 30 people from Somalia were barred from entering into Georgia.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)