Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili denies the role of his government in the restoration of air travel between Georgia and Russia. He stated that he thinks the Russian president was referring to Saakashvili’s government in his yesterday’s statement.
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“Stop misleading the people. Our government never held any talks about this,” Garibashvili told journalists today.
According to him, the emigrants, businessmen, and other groups were the ones requesting the return of the flights for years.
“I want you to focus on the main thing – if anyone had been pleading for the renewal of flights and trade, it was Saakashvili and his government. So, I think the Russian president meant Saakashvili’s government in his statement,” said Garibashvili.
Before this, he referred to the restoration of flights on the diaspora forum and stated that a few months after the war of 2008, the then Georgian government sent the head of Georgian Airways, Tamaz Gaiashvili, to Russia – “he was tasked with going to Russia and restarting direct flights. All this is happening right after the war. Also, after the war, Saakashvili unilaterally lifted the visa policy with Russia, but did he ask for anything in return? He could have requested it for you, our diaspora.”
On May 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted a ban on direct flights with Georgia, which he had imposed back on June 21, 2019. He simultaneously issued a decree canceling a visa policy, in effect since 2000, for Georgian citizens. On May 26, Putin stated that the reaction that followed this decision was unexpected to him.
“I thought everyone would say: “thanks, that’s nice”, but no, instead, an inexplicable turmoil ensued over there. It is strange and unexpected. When I think about it, I think to myself – did they go crazy? or what is happening, it’s beyond me. It seemed to me that the Georgian authorities have been raising the possibility of restoring air travel and lifting the visa policy repeatedly, so we made this step, but what goes on inside the country is none of our business. The people should decide Georgia’s development path for themselves. Regardless, we are prepared to do our part, we are taking steps forward, and will continue to move further depending on how our partners react,” said Putin.
Moscow says that the next step could be the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, which had been severed since the Russo-Georgian War of 2008.
