US Ambassador to Georgia: Russia must lift restrictions on flights to Georgia
Degnan made this statement while commenting on Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s recent interview with Russian newspaper Trud, in which the latter expressed hope that aviation connections with Georgia would be restored in the near future. Photo: IPN.
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US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan said that in order for relations between Georgia and Russia to be normalised Russia must lift restrictions on flights to Georgia.
Degnan made this statement while commenting on Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s recent interview with Russian newspaper Trud, in which the latter expressed hope that aviation connections with Georgia would be restored in the near future.
The Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze also commented on the same issue today, saying that the decision to suspend traffic was made by Russia, and that the resumption of flights also depended on the country taking into account the epidemiological situation as well.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov, whose taking the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker in June 2019 sparked large protests in the Georgian capital, has called Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili’s recent statement ‘a serious signal’ for improvements in Russia-Georgia relations.
The Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze has responded to Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s recent interview with Russian newspaper Trud, in which the latter expressed hope that aviation connections with Georgia would be restored in the near future.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said in response to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that the Georgian legislation does not consider having trade representations of foreign countries.
Flights between Georgia and Russia have been banned starting today following the recent decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The ban on flights was announced after protesters in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi tried to storm the Georgian parliament on June 20 when a Russian MP addressed a forum of politicians at the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy from the speaker’s chair.
The head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin says that the US is undermining the Georgian Dream leadership ‘for its disobedience’ and is backing the country’s opposition.
The Georgian Civil Aviation Agency on Friday rejected media reports on restoration of direct flights with Russia, saying the “status quo of the mentioned situation has not changed”.