Georgia allowed Georgian Airways to fly to Russia. This is the second company to be allowed to do so.
The Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia informed about this on May 16.
From May 20, there will be flights in the direction of Moscow — Tbilisi seven times a week.
The European Union is unhappy with this decision. The spokesman for the External Relations Service of the European Commission Peter Stano said: "We regret that Georgia has decided to resume flights to Russia. [...] The recent decision of the Georgian authorities [to restore communication with the Russian Federation] raises concerns and questions about Georgiaʼs European path and the implementation of foreign policy agreements included in the Association Agreement."
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak also reacted to the decision to renew communications with Russia.
"History always remembers those who pretended not to notice genocide, Nazism and its authors. And hardly anyone likes this historical memory. Georgia allowed one more airline to operate direct flights to Russia. Georgian Airways, and earlier "Azimuth". The Georgian people constantly demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine. We have a common enemy that has been killing Georgians since the 90s and then in 2008, and since 2014 it has been killing Ukrainians. For our peoples, this enemy is existential. [...] Perhaps it seems to some that it does not concern them. And interacting with terrorists and murderers is normal. Itʼs a wrong position, history will put everything in its place, people will definitely do it too," Yermak wrote.
Air traffic between Russia and Georgia was suspended in the summer of 2019 at the initiative of the Russian Federation. The reason was the scandal surrounding the participation of the Russian delegation in the session of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy held in Georgia in June. Then the Russian deputy, member of the Communist Party Serhiy Havrylov opened the session of the assembly, sitting in the chair of the speaker of the Parliament of Georgia. The deputies blocked the tribune and actually disrupted the event. The opposition said that the Georgian authorities had committed an act of treason because they allowed into the country and gave an honorable place in the parliament a politician who supports the independence of South Ossetia and participated in the war against Georgians in Abkhazia in 1993.
- On May 10, 2023, Putin signed a decree and canceled the visa regime for Georgian citizens from May 15, 2023, and also canceled the ban on air transportation from Russia to Georgia, which was in effect since June 2019.
- Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called it a provocation and even convened the countryʼs Security Council. On the other hand, the Georgian government sees nothing wrong with resuming air traffic.
- Georgia has declared that it will not allow sanctioned airlines and planes into its airspace, the EU has warned it about this. On May 15, Georgia issued the first permit since 2019 for flights to Russia, which was received by the Russian airline Azimut.