ArmInfo. The Armenian Foreign Ministry is informed about the incident that occurred on the Armenian-Georgian border related to the refusal of three Armenian journalists to enter Georgia.
As Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan told an ArmInfo correspondent, the Foreign Ministry has already contacted Georgian colleagues on this issue. "We are dealing with this issue. According to preliminary data, the refusal of entry was related to technical issues. Additional information will be given later," Naghdalyan said.
At the time of publication of the article, we did not manage to receive comment from the Georgian Embassy in Armenia.
It should be noted that on Saturday it became known that three Armenian journalists- Yuri Manvelyan, Tigran Khachatryan and Tigran Hakobyan, employees of the Epress.am portal were not allowed into Georgia. As the journalists themselves said, on October 11 they were detained for more than 4 hours at the Bavra-Ninotsminda checkpoint, and then they were forbidden to bring cameras and microphones into the country. Journalists had to explain to various customs officers that they were going to Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki and Tbilisi for meetings. Georgian border guards told them that with the equipment they cannot cross the border, and can return when they leave the equipment in Armenia. After the journalists returned to the Armenian border, left their equipment there and returned to the Georgian checkpoint, the border guards explained to them that their entry into the country for journalistic activities was undesirable, and sent them back. The Georgian side refused to give an explanation in connection with the inadmissibility of journalists in the country.
To note, an almost similar event occurred recently at the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border already with a group of Russian journalists from St. Petersburg. The car of journalists and cinematographers was not allowed into the territory of Georgia, justifying this by the fact that the car looks "too military". Upon learning that the purpose of the trip was to shoot a documentary about Georgia and Armenia, the border guards allowed four members of the film crew to enter Georgia while the driver of the car was sent back to Russia.