It is not clear how these talks began. The “Imedi” television station of Tbilisi was the first to broadcast the report on the Georgian parliament’s discussion on the issue of taking the grave of the great Russian poet, Alexander Griboyedov, out of the Pantheon of Tbilisi. “Imedi” had also appealed to one of the influential deputies, Giga Bokeria, for comments. The latter had said that he does not discuss such issues, but he personally thinks that although Alexander Griboyedov was an brilliant writer and good diplomat and has done many things for Russia, he has not done anything for Georgia for them to have buried him in the Pantheon of Mtatsminda.
In the name of justice, I must say that this interpretation is uniquely scandalous. Of course, immediately after this, witty Tbilisians sneered at the comment: “Let’s send princess Tchavtchavadze’s husband Griboyedov to Russia and ask the U.S. to send the bones of any senator so that we can bury them instead of the body of the writer”.
A similar proposal was made in the Autonomous Republic of South Osetia as well. The Ministry of Education of Osetia proposed to move the grave of Griboyedov, as well as all the Russian cultural monuments, to Osetia to frustrate the Georgian authorities.
Moscow, as could be expected, was extremely sad about all this. Head of the federative agency of the press and mass media, Mikhail Shvidko, called the announcement made by deputy Bokeria “political schizophrenia”, and “barbarism” in general, to such a question.
“I am shocked by this because any country should consider it an honor that the grave of one of the geniuses of Russian culture is buried on their land,” added Shvidko.
One of the inheritors of Georgian prince Alexander Tchavtchavadze-film director Merab Kokochashvili-considers it ignorant to discuss the issue concerning the removal of Griboyedov’s grave from the Pantheon of Tbilisi. “There are a couple of sides to this issue-moral, political and historical,” says the director. The moral side of the issue is tied to Griboyedov’s wife, Nino Tchavtchavadze. “The existence and preservation of Griboyedov’s grave is as important as the existence of the grave of the son of Heracle Teymuraz the 1st, in Astrakhan. Besides that, the Pantheon of Georgian kings and the crypt of the Bagrations are located in the Donskoy private house of Moscow,” emphasized the well-known film director and mentioned that initially, in the 19th century, there had not been any graves of public figures on the mountain of Mtatsminda, and Griboyedov’s grave was the first for whom the Pantheon was opened.
“That grave was a symbol of the love that Nino Tchavtchavadze felt for her deceased husband,” said Kokochashvili. Speaker of the Georgian parliament Nino Burjanadze has strictly denied the rumors about burying the body of the Russian poet somewhere else. However, the scandal has begun, and things are definitely not going to look good for Russian-Georgian relations. Besides the official denial, Burjanadze and the vice-speaker of the parliament Mikhail Matchavariani met with the Russian Ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, and tried to assure him that what happened was an unsubstantiated chaos that is evidently beneficial for some people. However, it will not be that easy to ease the tension.
There are many mysterious provocations taking place in Georgia that “are beneficial for some people and are aimed to tear down the reputation of Georgia in the eye of the international community.” Here there are many things that are not correct. Let us recall, for example, the recent bombing of the Kodor dam by some mysterious helicopters. The commission which also included UN representatives did not find out who organized the bombing, from where and why. There still has not been an official announcement about this. Let us recall the tragic death of the Georgian policemen in South Osetia, which Tskhinvali rejects, and the ongoing shootings at night, or the “accidentally triggered shot” of the Georgian policeman fired at the motorcyclist from Javakheti who, as it turned out, was Armenian…That’s not all.
As far as Griboyedov is concerned, I will only ask one question: Didn’t the influential deputy predict what the reaction of Georgian society would be to his announcement, not to mention Russia’s reaction? Since when did Georgians start to talk about such things when Georgia has always showed respect towards the deceased?