“One of the ambassadors said that they are afraid that too many Russians will enter the European Union through Georgia. A Russian citizen needs a visa to enter the EU, if they don't want Russian citizens to go to the EU, they can stop giving them visas,” This is how Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream, responded to the criticism on giving Russian citizens the opportunity to go to the European Union through Georgia.
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According to Kobakhidze, there are only 5 direct flights between Russia and Georgia per day.
“To give you simple statistics, for example, there are about 100 direct flights between Russia and Turkey, Azerbaijan - about 25, Armenia - about 25. That's a total of 150 flights. As for Georgia, there are only 5 flights per day. Now you can judge for yourself what kind of scale we are talking about. How can flights from Georgia somehow become the basis of increased risks? This is empty speculation, blatant lies. How can the ambassador frame such lies, or any other politician, who is supposed to take care of the state? You can't be spouting such lies for a self-promotion campaign,” Kobakhidze told the media.
Vitaly Vantsev, co-owner of Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport and Azimuth airline, announced yesterday that a fourth transit hub is being created in Tbilisi for Russian citizens to fly to Europe. According to Vantsev, their partner Georgian Airways, which is sanctioned by Ukraine, is making good offers to Russian passengers in terms of transit, in particular, it opens flights to Europe, including Paris, Nice, and Rome.
“Ultimately, Russian citizens will have a fourth good transit hub in Tbilisi after Istanbul, Yerevan, and Baku. We and Georgian Airways are trying to organize it [the hub] in a way that will be as comfortable as possible for our passengers, so the layover takes like hour-and-a-half, not too long,” Vantsev told Russian media.
Because of starting the war in Ukraine, Russia's aviation sector has been sanctioned by the European Union. Russian airlines and aircraft are banned from landing in or departing from any EU country, as well as overflying EU airspace.
After the resumption of direct flights with Russia, the European Union called on the Georgian authorities to join the sanctions.
The US ambassador to Georgia also commented on this issue. In an interview with Georgian News, Kelly Degnan said that direct flights give Russian citizens access to Europe when Europe has closed its airspace for Russian citizens.
“Direct flights provide them backdoor access to Europe. Again, it is important for Russian citizens to understand that they are being isolated because their government has chosen to start a war. So, providing direct flights to Tbilisi, which will then allow them to go to France or Germany, makes Russian citizens think that everything is normal. It’s not normal, it’s their government that disrupted the peace and stability that we have all done so much to build over the last 75 years,” stated Degnan.
On May 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled his ban of June 21, 2019, on direct flights with Georgia. In addition, the visa requirements for Georgian citizens, in effect since 2000, were stripped. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been severed after the war of August 2008, although Moscow does not rule out that the next step could be the restoration of diplomatic relations.
