Russia thanks Georgia for assistance in repatriation of Russian citizens amid pandemic

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has thanked Georgia for helping three Russian seamen in Nigeria return home on a repatriation flight, as well as for assistance in the repatriation of Russian nationals from Georgia.

At a press-conference on Thursday Zakharova said that the contract of Russian seamen expired and as the regular flights between Russia and Nigeria had been suspended it became complicated to return the Russian seamen to their home country. 

Our Georgian counterparts agreed to bring the Russian citizens on their flight, so the Russian seamen arrived from Lagos to Tbilisi on June 7, where they met with representatives of the Russian interests section at the Swiss embassy and took them to the Zemo Larsi border checkpoint. I take the occasion to thank the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the section of Georgian interests in Moscow, as well as the Swiss Embassy in Tbilisi that ensured the coordination of numerous humanitarian problems emerging during the evacuation of Russian nationals," she said.

Zakharova said that last week Georgia helped Russia bring back two Russian citizens who were in Turkey for medical treatment and also to bring 173 Russian citizens from Armenia through Georgia to Russia. 

She said that Russia, in turn, has helped Georgian citizens return from Brazil to Georgia.