Georgian activists disrupted a wedding reception that was reportedly attended by the daughter of Russia’s foreign minister outside the capital, Tbilisi.*
Georgian media reports said Sergei Lavrov’s daughter Yekaterina had been scheduled to participate in a post-wedding reception at a mountain resort east of Tbilisi on May 20.
The wedding was reportedly for the brother of Aleksandr Vinokurov, who is married to Yekaterina, Lavrov's daughter.
But nationalist protesters staged a rally outside the resort, clashing briefly with police, who detained at least 16 people.
According to media reports, some protesters threw eggs at minibuses leaving the hotel, shouting: "Russians have no place in Georgia!"
It was not immediately clear if the wedding party in fact occurred. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said it did not, and that wedding guests had already left the country.
An opposition TV channel on May 19 published video of what it said was a wedding ceremony at a marriage registry office in Tbilisi.
It was unclear if Lavrov attended either the ceremony or the reception.
Zurabishvili also said a Russian lawmaker had attended the events.
“I received a promise from the Minister of Internal Affairs that the family, the people who were going to celebrate the wedding today, left. The wedding will not take place. This is a victory for society, as well as the departure of [State Duma Deputy Sergei] Gavrilov from this country,” she said.
The incident came as Georgia moved to restore long-disrupted flights between Tbilisi and the Russian capital, Moscow. On May 19, a Russian passenger plane landed in Tbilisi -- the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted a 2019 flight ban last week.
The jet’s arrival was met with protests at the Tbilisi airport and elsewhere.
The two countries have had no formal diplomatic ties since Russia routed Georgian forces in a brief war in 2008. The conflict ended with Tbilisi losing control over two breakaway regions: Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Georgia has voted in favor of all international resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. It has also provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid and taken in thousands of war refugees.
However, the Georgian parliament, and many government positions, are dominated by the Georgian Dream political party, whose secretive billionaire backer made his fortune in Russian investments.
