Russian plane lands at Tbilisi airport - reaction in Georgia

Russian plane lands in Tbilisi

A Russian plane has landed at Tbilisi International Airport. This is the first flight from Moscow after the lifting of restrictions on flights. The flight was greeted with protest at the airport, and a protest in front of Parliament has also been announced for this evening.

How did Tbilisi react to this?

US Ambassador Kelly Degnan

According to the latest data, only about 130,000 Georgians live in Russia, and most of them have either dual Russian-Georgian citizenship, or, if they wanted to leave Russia, they already left last year. In fact, we are talking about a million Russian citizens who want to come to Georgia. This air service is more for the convenience of Russians who want to come to Georgia, and not for Georgians. Accordingly, I think it is clear why the Georgian people are worried. People want to understand what it will cost Georgia.

President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili

Despite the opposition of the Georgian people, Russia still made this unwanted flight to Tbilisi.

No Russian flights to Georgia!

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili:

“We explained in great detail that not a single sanctioned airline, not a single sanctioned aircraft will fly to Georgia – that says it all. I met European leaders in Iceland and explained to them that it was in our national interest. There is nothing new here. It is an integral part of economic and trade relations. Whoever does not want the country to overcome poverty, unemployment, trade and economic problems, that is the enemy of our country … Everything that I have listed serves to protect the interests of Georgia. Everything is in line with our national policy as well as international sanctions.”

Zurab Japaridze, Girchi – More Freedom Party

Azimuth Airlines is under Ukrainian sanctions. Ukraine requires international sanctions for it. The owners of Azimuth are also under Ukrainian sanctions, and Ukraine also requires the imposition of sanctions against them. The company that manufactures the aircraft used by Azimuth is under sanctions from Ukraine, the UK and the US. The manager of this company is also under sanctions. The European Union suspended the safety certification of the company’s aircraft.

The second Russian airline, Red Wings, is also under Ukrainian and American sanctions.

The European Union has told us seven hundred times that Georgia’s foreign and security policy must be consistent with the policies of the European Union if we want to get closer to it. Russian planes cannot land on EU territory due to sanctions, what other questions do you have about this?

They [Georgian authorities] are deliberately alienating us from the West and stuffing us into Russia’s ass, from where we started to get out after two centuries and at the cost of a lot of blood. They deliberately undermine the process of accepting the status of a candidate [to join the European Union], they are trying to make the West abandon us.

Wake up, if you’re going to live here, if you’re going to raise your children here, there’s nothing left for you to do now. Don’t think that this is only the work of parties and/or NGOs. The more they spend their energy now, the more expensive it will be for them later.

Today at 20:00 at Parliament.

Lasha Bugadze, writer:

“Perhaps it is not worth comparing these events directly, but I have a feeling that the appearance of the “Putin plane” in our country is akin to the invasion of the territory of Georgia by the 11th Red Army on February 25 [1921]. Today’s events are pursuing the same goal as those 100 years ago – the violation of our sovereignty and the alienation of Georgia from Europe.

Especially insulting and cynical is the arrival of this plane, filled with KGB operatives on the day of the murder of Gigi Otkhozoria [the murder of Georgian citizen Gigi Otkhozoria on May 19, 2016 in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict became a symbol of Russian occupation].

• European Union calls on Georgia to join sanctions against Russia in aviation sector
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The opposition Droa Party and civil activists are holding a protest near Tbilisi airport. According to Elene Khoshtaria, the police have detained four people.

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”.