Mamuka Areshidze declared to news agency GHN that Pankisi valley was associated with the terrorists several years ago, and the mentioning of this issue among the ordinary citizens was linked to the danger of terrorism . Expert said that Russia tries to attract the attention of international community to this question namely in this context.

"There was a time when Russian media and political elite managed to present Georgia in the light of a shelter for the terrorists and stamped the country with such image. A very big fight was conducted to tear up this image. But for the average foreign citizen the Pankisi valley is a term which denotes the terrorism. Russians are constantly repeating this, and when they mentioned al-Qaeda in the context of Georgia, all who do not know the subject matter deeply connected this with Pankisi. I am talking about the foreign average person, so because of this the government has to be more careful in the policy in this area, as any inattention to this subject can cause difficulties, " - Mamuka Areshidze said to GHN.