Dmitry Klimenko is putting the final touches to a new nightclub in Tbilisi’s central Vake Park, aimed at drawing some of the tens of thousands of disoriented fellow Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians who fled to Georgia in recent months.
“The whole world is competing to attract these people,” said former central bank governor Giorgi Kadagidze, over coffee in downtown Tbilisi. He argues that Georgia should market itself aggressively as a safe haven from repressive regimes that offers a strong financial sector, beaches, mountains, a warm climate and good food. “We can be the Portugal of the East.”
The government’s opponents also accuse it of attempting to appease Moscow. Levan Davitashvili, minister for the economy and sustainable development, calls such criticisms unfair and politically motivated. Security services screen Russian immigrants thoroughly for agents or sanctions threats, he said, while the government has set up a task force to help companies and entrepreneurs settle and navigate procedures such as the checks needed to open a bank account.
Some hurdles to a Russian-driven tech boom in Georgia have little to do with government policy. For one thing, many Russians fled there because they could simply arrive without the need for a visa, but planned from the outset to move on as soon as they could secure the documents needed to do so.