The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, announced a boycott of the Georgian airline Georgian Airways, which started flying to Russia.
This is reported by "Echo of the Caucasus".
"I announce a boycott of Airzena [Georgian Airways]," Zurabishvili said and called on citizens to join the boycott. She emphasized that the airline is only interested in getting rich and now it "wants to take advantage of this new reality that is unacceptable to a very large part of our population."
The founder of the airline, Tamaz Gaiashvili, said that Zurabishvili would not be allowed on board Georgian Airways after she announced a boycott.
"Ms. Salome has announced a boycott of the national airline. We declare her persona non grata until she apologizes to the Georgian people, we will not let her on board," said Tamaz Gaiashvili.
- 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. Instead, 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 permission for flights to Russia since 2019. It was received by the Russian airline Azimut, the second permission was received by the Georgian airline Georgian Airways, and the third by the Russian airline Red Wings (its planes flew to occupied Crimea).