TBILISI, January 20. /TASS/. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili opposes the idea of resuming flights to and from Russia, according to a statement released by the presidential administration on Friday.
"I don’t welcome the idea of resuming flights to and from Russia. As all our partner countries in word or deed express their deepest solidarity with Ukraine’s brave struggle, the position of the government and the ruling party is, to put it mildly, unclear to me, as well as to much of the public, I am sure," the statement reads.
Moreover, the head of state called for additional restrictions on Russians coming to Georgia. "We need regulations concerning the right to work, business registration, property acquisition and the opening of Russian-language schools," Zourabichvili added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia and Georgia were actively communicating and Georgia’s GDP had grown by ten percent in 2022 thanks to the tourism sector and relations with Russia. In addition, according to Lavrov, Russia was looking forward to resuming direct flights to and from Georgia. Members of Georgia’s ruling party also called for resuming air service.
On July 8, 2019, President Vladimir Putin of Russia temporarily banned Russian airlines from carrying out air service with Georgia. Moreover, a resolution by Russia’s Transport Ministry suspending Georgian flights to Russia went into force on the same day. The move came after several thousand people had staged an anti-Russian rally in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, triggered by the participation of Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) member Sergey Gavrilov in the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy, held in the Georgian parliament. The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the flight suspension was temporary and the ban might be lifted after the situation in Georgia stabilized, Russophobic campaigns came to an end and Russian nationals no longer had to face security threats.