Former Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria commented on the restoration of direct flights between Russia and Georgia:
“In their thirteenth year of being in power, Georgian Dream is offering us as a success an “agreement” with the government of Putin, who is wanted for an international war crime, is under sanctions, and is isolated, hated by everyone, so that their planes, which are suitable only for scrap metal, fly to us with FSB agents on board. This is offered in exchange for integration with Europe.
Look who enjoys air travel and you will understand who needed to restore it. “Dream”, this is not your merit, but the Kremlin needed Georgia, and they are using you,” Nino Lomjaria wrote on Facebook.
On May 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a document on the abolition of the visa regime for Georgian citizens from May 15, 2023. By the second decree, Putin lifted the ban on air travel from Russia to Georgia.
According to the document, the exception is “citizens entering the Russian Federation for work or for a period of more than 90 days, including for the purpose of obtaining education.”
By another decree of Putin, the President of Russia lifted the ban on flights to Georgia for Russian airlines.
According to the document, the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of June 21, 2019, which prohibited Russian airlines from flying between Georgia and Russia, was declared invalid.
According to the Civil Aviation Agency, in addition to the Russian airline Azimut, regular flights on the Tbilisi-Moscow-Tbilisi route are also launched by Georgian Airways. According to the flight application submitted by the airline to the Civil Aviation Agency, from May 20, flights will be operated seven times a week.
The Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia issued the required permit on May 16.
So far, the visa regime with Russia has been canceled unilaterally. Direct flights have ceased since July 2019 after the so-called “Gavrilov’s night”.
