Moscow has revoked Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze's Russian citizenship, some eight months after Tbilisi’s chief diplomat, in his own words, mailed his Russian passport to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
“The Russian side has finally found the time . . . to satisfy Grigol Vashadze’s application for cancellation of his Russian citizenship," Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Jalagania told a June 28 briefing.
Following the 2008 war with Georgia, Russian parliamentarian Semion Bogdasarov asked Russia's State Duma to deprive Vashadze of his Russian citizenship because of his close association with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who tops the Kremlin’s persona non grata list. The Duma denied the requested, but then Vashadze himself ditched his Russian passport. Vashadze is married to Georgian prima ballerina Nino Ananiashvili, a former Bolshoi Ballet star who is a godmother of Saakashvili’s younger son, Nikoloz.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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