Georgia proposes to introduce an "occupation fee" of $350 for Russians

The initiative to introduce a special tax for Russians was made by Levan Bezhashvili, MP from Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM) party.

He introduced the bill "On the occupational collection".

According to Kommersant, the draft contains a requirement to collect from every Russian coming to Georgia a single tax (collection or "occupation fee") in the amount of 1,000 lari (about $350).

The basis for levying the tax is the "occupation by Russia of the original Georgian territories - Abkhazia and South Ossetia".

“If a citizen of the Russian Federation refuses to pay the fee, he will not be allowed into the country,” the message says.

Opposition representatives are convinced that the introduction of such a tax "will drastically reduce the number of people wishing to come to Georgia".

Thus, the deputies propose "to solve the problems that have arisen at the Upper Lars-Kazbegi checkpoint". If the Russians do not pay the tax and do not recognize the fact of the "occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia", - they will not be allowed to enter the country.

Experts were skeptical about the possibility of adopting such a law, pointing out that in the first half of this year, Georgia showed a steady economic growth of 11%, largely due to visitors from Russia.

The problems at the checkpoint that arose after the announcement of mobilization in Russia are considered by many to be temporary. It is expected that the flow of Russians will gradually dry up after the authorities deployed mobile checkpoints at the checkpoint and began handing out subpoenas to fugitives right at the border.

Meanwhile, the invasion of tens of thousands of Russians into Georgia is already irritating some citizens of the country: since September 28, the opposition Droa party has set up a picket at the Upper Lars checkpoint with posters “against Russian occupation” and “northern invasion of Georgia”.

Earlier it was noted that after the announcement in the Russian Federation of mobilization on September 21, tens of thousands of Russians rushed to the nearby borders to leave the country.

Desperate to buy scarce air tickets, residents of the Russian Federation, who do not want to participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, lined up along the land borders.

Many kilometers of queues of passenger cars accumulated at the border checkpoints. Some leave their cars and go on foot in order to have time to “skip through” the checkpoint before they are brought into the base to be drafted. Mostly Russians go to Kazakhstan and Georgia. In total, about 300,000 people left the country in a week - about as many as the Ministry of Defense planned to mobilize.