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A bitter diplomatic dispute between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia has led to a harsh government crackdown on ethnic Georgians living in Moscow and sends a dangerous message at a time when Russian xenophobia is on the rise, human rights advocates say.
Relations between the neighboring nations, already tense after the 2004 election of Georgia's Western-leaning President Mikhail Saakashvili, took a turn for the worse in September when Tbilisi detained four Russian military officials on charges of spying. The Kremlin responded with economic sanctions and by severing rail and air links.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his government would tighten migration laws to "protect the interest of Russian manufacturers and Russia's native population."
Russian authorities then began a sweeping campaign against ethnic Georgians. Hundreds have been deported, and Moscow schools were asked to give lists of students with Georgian last names to local police forces.
Police stepped up document checks and temporarily closed Georgian-owned casinos and restaurants. An estimated 1 million ethnic Georgians reside and work legally in Russia, mainly in Moscow, where they have lived for most of their lives.
"Now I have to bring my passport and registration stamp with me even when I go out in my slippers to empty the trash," said Natalia Iosava, 43, a Georgian who works in a vegetable market in southern Moscow.
Russia defended the crackdown, saying it was necessary to rid Russia of "criminal" Georgian elements.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Georgia of being a "proxy state" of the United States. Money sent to Tbilisi from Georgians working in Russia was being used to rearm the Georgian military, he recently told reporters in Moscow.
The crackdown against Georgians comes amid increasing anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner sentiment in Russia.
Violent attacks against dark-skinned foreigners and immigrants, particularly those from the Caucasus mountain region and Central Asia, have resulted in 39 deaths this year, compared with 28 in all of 2005, according to the Sova center, a human rights watchdog group.
A September poll by the Levada Center said that 52 percent of Russians would support declaring Russia "the Russian people's state," with restrictions on residency and employment for non-Russians and migrants.
"The main reason of this nationalistic mood of the society is the policy of the state. The government says they are basing their actions on the law, but it is looking more like selective, ethnic discrimination," said Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy chief of the Sova center.
On Nov. 4, a holiday known as Russian Unity Day, thousands of ultranationalists marched in Moscow and 20 other cities across the country. Participants in the Moscow march raised fists in Nazi-style salutes and carried posters stating "Russia for Russians."
Rhetoric from the country's top government officials, including Putin, has fueled growing xenophobia in Russia, political analysts say.
"For the first time since the Soviet Union, we are hearing this word in Russian for 'compatriots' and 'native' populations," said Masha Lipman of the Carnegie Moscow Center, a think tank affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Now, Putin is deliberately using these words, which the Russian population interprets as Slavic Russians."
Members of the Georgian aristocracy came to Moscow in the 18th century to escape Muslim forces invading their country. The Russian Orthodox Church gave them land to build the small, white St. George's church in central Moscow.
Centuries later, when both nations were part of the Soviet Union, Georgian wines and mineral waters were staples of Communist Party banquet tables. Millions of Russians spent holidays in Georgia's snow-capped mountains and Black Sea resorts. Georgians studied in Russia's universities and some, such as Joseph Stalin, became leading members of the Soviet government.
But that was before Georgia started talking about joining NATO and the European Union.
Earlier this year, Russia banned imports of Georgian wines and mineral water. On Nov. 2, Russian energy monopoly Gazprom announced it would more than double the price of gas to Georgia.
"We were considered the Italy of the Soviet Union because of our lifestyle, hospitality and our wine," said David Beritashvili, 60, a prominent member of Russia's ethnic Georgian community. "But many of us are insulted by these Russian actions and are seriously thinking about returning home, no matter how hard it might be."
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