Russia Deports More Than 100 Georgians

Georgian citizens queue with children at the Georgian consulate, to get information about the situation, in downtown Moscow, Friday, Oct. 6, 2006. Russian authorities on Friday ratcheted up pressure on Georgia by ordering Moscow schools to compile lists of children with Georgian last names to detect illegal migrants, deporting over a hundred Georgians, raiding businesses and closing down the city's most popular restaurants. (AP Photo/ Sergey Ponomarev) (Sergey Ponomarev - AP)

Relations between the neighbors have been strained since Saakashvili came to power following the 2003 Rose Revolution, vowing to take the country out of Russia's orbit and join NATO. Georgia also accuses Moscow of backing two breakaway Georgian provinces _ an allegation Russia denies.

On Thursday, Russia said it would abolish quotas allowing a number of Georgians to obtain residency and work permits each year. Several Georgian-run casinos, restaurants and other businesses have been raided and closed for alleged regulatory violations.

Russian authorities have also begun targeting prominent ethnic Georgians living in Moscow, including award-winning author Grigory Tchkhartishvili, who writes under the pen name Boris Akunin. Akunin said on Ekho Mosvky that his publisher had been questioned by tax authorities over the writer's finances.

"I didn't think I would live to see ethnic cleansing in Russia," Akunin said.

According to some estimates, about a million Georgians _ more than a fifth of Georgia's population _ work in Russia, and their families rely on the hundreds of millions of dollars in annual remittances sent home.

Russian authorities say more than half of the Georgians in the country are working illegally.

Amiran Datiashvili, a 55-year-old worker who has lived in Moscow for more than 13 years, said Russia was punishing Georgia for its unwillingness to toe the Kremlin line and for adopting a pro-Western course.

"Why? Because we've got a good president, that's why they are doing it," Datiashvili said.