Putin is prepared to cancel visa requirements for Georgia citizens

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was ready to restore relations with Georgia which chilled after their five-day war in August 2008.

Russia is also ready to cancel visa requirements for Georgian nationals, Putin told his annual news conference.

Referring to his political foe Mikheil Saakashvili, who led Georgia during the war, Putin said the appointment of the latter as a regional governor in Ukraine was ‘a spit in the face of the Ukrainian people’.

• Russia introduced visa regime with Georgia in December 2000. Diplomatic relations between Russia and Georgia were broken off in 2008, following recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

• The Georgian Dream coalition, that came to power in Georgia in 2012, named settlement of relations with Russia as its key priority.

• Interestingly, that the statement timed to coincide with the EU-Georgia visa liberalization process. A final report on Georgia’s implementation of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan will be released in the next few days. If the report is positive, Georgian citizens will be able to travel to Europe visa free already in 2016.