Air transport with Georgia may resume - Russian Foreign Ministry. On what terms?

Air traffic with Georgia may resume

Russia may decide to resume direct flights with Georgia and liberalize its visa policy, if “the necessary prerequisites are met”, as stated in an interview with the Russian news agency TASS by the director of the fourth department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Denis Gonchar.

According to Gonchar, Tbilisi knows the conditions under which Russia would make such decisions. Georgia’s economic growth forecast has increased to double digits thanks to inbound tourism, remittances and trade with Russia, Gonchar added.

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On July 8, 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin banned Russian airlines from flying to Georgia. On the same day, a decision of the Russian Ministry of Transport to suspend flights of Georgian airlines to Russia went into effect. The decision was made by President Putin after Communist MP Sergei Gavrilov visited Tbilisi on June 20, 2019, which was followed by mass protests and dispersal thereof by Georgian authorities.

The Russian Foreign Ministry then explained that the flight ban was temporary, and the main condition for its cancelation was “the stabilization of the situation in Georgia, the end of the Russophobic campaign and the disappearance of security threats to Russian citizens.”

On November 28, 2020,the Russian Foreign Ministry published a statement on its website that contained details of an online meeting between Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Abashidze and member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Grigory Karasin, wherein they discussed the prospects for the resumption of air traffic between the two countries, which “depend on the cessation of anti-Russian sentiment in Georgia”.

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There are 17,000 Russian companies in Georgia, more than half of which were registered after the start of the war in Ukraine, according to a new report by Transparency International Georgia.

The report also mentions that in 2022, Georgia’s economic dependence on Russia has increased significantly, although it has not reached a level where, with the complete cessation of economic relations with Russia, Georgia would face a deep crisis.