TBILISI, April 14. /TASS/. Georgian Civil Aviation Agency has denied media reports that flights between Moscow and Tbilisi will be resumed from April 18.
Such reports emerged after information about a direct flight appeared on the Vnukovo airport website.
"We reiterate that there is no direct air communication between Georgia and Russia and the status quo of this situation has not changed. We also want to note that the Russian side has not applied for the resumption of regular air traffic," the agency said in a statement on Friday. As the agency noted, the information in the media about the Georgian Airways flight "does not correspond to reality."
Georgian Airways also denied the reports by issuing a statement saying that "similar false, unverified information has been circulated many times before." The statement notes that "the airline did not apply for these flights."
Earlier on Friday, a screenshot of the Vnukovo airport website appeared in a number of media outlets, which indicated that Georgian flag carrier Georgian Airways would allegedly operate flights from Moscow to Tbilisi from April 18.
On the website of the Moscow airport, this flight is currently unavailable.
According to the decree of President Vladimir Putin, Russian airlines are temporarily prohibited from operating air transportation to Georgia from July 8, 2019. On the same date, the decision of the Russian Transport Ministry to suspend flights of Georgian airlines to Russia came into force.
The Russian authorities took such measures after several thousand people staged an anti-Russian rally in Tbilisi near the parliament building on June 20, 2019. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the ban on Russian airlines to carry out air transportation is temporary. The main conditions to resume flights from Russia to Georgia include stabilization of the situation in that country, the cessation of the Russophobic campaign and absence of threats to safety of Russian citizens.