Sanctioned airlines “will not operate” in Georgia - PM
Garibashvili also expressed gratitude to the United States for its “strategic partnership” and Europe for its “support”, while adding “Georgia has a sovereign right to have its own national interests”. Photo: PM's press office
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday told the ongoing Qatar Economic Forum in Doha his Government’s “clear” position that airline companies sanctioned for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would not operate in Georgia.
Garibashvili made the comment at a panel discussion held as part of the Forum, and said his Government did not intend to stop economic and trade relations with Russia, while also noting “many” states were still operating flights to the country since the start of the war.
This is part of an economic and trade relations with Russia. We never said we would stop economic and trade relations with Russia. You mentioned flights - many countries have flights with Russia, but we have made it very clear that no sanctioned companies and no sanctioned aircraft will be allowed to operate in Georgia”, Garibashvili said.
He also expressed gratitude to the United States for its “strategic partnership” and Europe for its “support”, while adding “Georgia has a sovereign right to have its own national interests”.
The PM highlighted “one million ethnic Georgians” lived in Russia as a diaspora, meaning direct flights between the two countries - which were restored on May 15 following the Kremlin’s lifting of its 2019 ban on air connections with Georgia - were “very normal”.
“We have one million Georgians - ethnic Georgians, our citizens - as a diaspora living in Russia. To have a direct flight with Russia, I think it is very normal. Plus, it does not mean that we are engaged in some kind of political consultation or something like that. As I said, this is a part of the economic and trade relations [Georgia has with Russia] - like the EU does, like America does”, he said.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday told the Qatar Economic Forum his Government imposing sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine would “destroy our economy”.
Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Monday said even though the country had not imposed sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the country’s authorities were “making sure” its territory would not be used for circumvention of the international sanctions for the war.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Human Rights Committee from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Saturday said Georgia “has no intention” of cooperating with Russian airline companies sanctioned by the international community for its invasion of Ukraine.
Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili, on Wednesday, responded to the Russian Government’s decision to lift its ban on flights with Georgia and visa requirements for citizens of the country by saying that sanctioned airlines and ships would not be able to operate in Georgia, while unsanctioned ones would have an opportunity to perform direct flights.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday highlighted Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s speech at a panel discussion of the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha by calling the address “extraordinary”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday told a panel discussion at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha it was his “job and duty” to protect his country’s “national interests and people”, in comments on positions of his Government on the backdrop of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Saturday said just a few months after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, the previous Georgian Government had asked Russia for direct flights with the country and the former President Mikheil Saakashvili had lifted a visa regime with Russia in 2012.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Sunday said both banning and now resuming flights with Georgia had been “unilateral” decisions of the Russian Government and Georgia had neither influence nor “any kind of leverage” over the matter.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday told the Global Security Forum in Bratislava the European Union was gradually becoming “one of the largest trade partners” of Georgia.
The Maritime Transport Agency of Georgia on Tuesday said the scheduled entry of Astoria Grande, a cruise ship sailing under the flag of Palau, in Batumi port in the country’s west was free from international sanctions imposed against Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.
Astoria Grande, a cruise ship that has entered Georgia’s Batumi port, has arrived in the harbour from Turkey and is free from the international sanctions imposed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the Maritime Transport Agency of the country said on Thursday.
Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Guram Guramishvili on Sunday said the cruise ship Astoria Grande, which had entered Georgia’s Batumi port on Thursday, had been sailing under the Palau flag and was not sanctioned, as part of the international sanctions imposed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, by “any country”.
The Georgian law enforcement on Monday arrested 19 demonstrators for disobeying police and petty hooliganism at a protest against the entry of a cruise ship in the country’s Black Sea city of Batumi that carried Russian citizens in a cruise organised by a Russian channel on the backdrop of Moscow’s ingoing aggression against Ukraine, the Public Defender's Office said.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday said protests against the entry of a cruise ship in the country’s Black Sea city of Batumi that carried Russian citizens in a cruise organised by a Russian channel on the backdrop of Moscow’s ingoing aggression against Ukraine were a “deliberate provocation” and “harmful” to the domestic economy.
Batumi City Court on Tuesday ruled to release 15 individuals from a group arrested for disobeying police at a protest against the arrival of a Russian-organised cruise in Georgia's Black Sea city of Batumi on Thursday.