Bus carrying Putin supporters pelted with bottles in Batumi, Georgia; Ukrainian woman detained

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read
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Protesters have pelted a bus in the Georgian port of Batumi with bottles and eggs when Russian tourists from the cruise ship Astoria Grande dared to board the vehicle. A Ukrainian woman has also been detained during the protest.

Source: Irakli Kupradze, one of the leaders of the Georgian opposition party Lelo, on Facebook; European Pravda

Details: He noted that the Ukrainian woman's phone was confiscated, and she was not allowed to make any calls.

Ekho Kavkaza (Echo of the Caucasus), a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project, reported that some people left the ship and boarded a bus. The protesters threw bottles and eggs at the bus.

Journalists on the scene say most of the passengers are still on board.

Earlier, the Georgian Interior Ministry confirmed the detention of nine participants in the rally.

The liner Astoria Grande arrived in Batumi for the second time on the morning of Monday, 31 July. Students, oppositionists and civil society activists gathered in Batumi port to protest the ship’s arrival.

The list of passengers of the ship includes celebrities from the RU.TV channel who support Russia’s war against Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mitya Fomin, a participant in the "Za Rosiiu" (For Russia) marathon in support of the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, a supporter of the annexation of Crimea by Russia and Putin's nomination for President of the Russian Federation in 2018, and former lead singer of the Russian band Hi-Fi, is among those on board. Fomin is known to have faced sanctions from Ukraine.

Russian band Testosterone, which performed for the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces in the military hospital of the Russian Ministry of Defence in Nizhny Novgorod, as well as the Semyonovsky Regiment in Moscow, is aboard, too.

Another artist aboard the Astoria Grande is Belarusian singer Dmitry Koldun, who gave a concert in the so-called "Donetsk People’s Republic" in 2018 and supported the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.

Read also: How Tbilisi Destroying Strategic Partnership with Kyiv by Resuming Flights with Russia

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