“This is absolutely unacceptable, inappropriate, and untimely. We don’t need a visa-free regime or the reinstatement of flights. So long as Russia remains a global villain and an occupier of our territory, such a gesture is untimely and unacceptable,” such was the reaction of the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, to Vladimir Putin’s decision to enable a visa-free regime to Georgian citizens and lift a flight ban.
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As Salome Zurabishvili remarked, this is yet another Russian provocation, which poses a great challenge to the Georgian government.
“Today, we all witnessed another underhanded statement by Russia, but what is the purpose of this provocation – On one hand, this is possibly an attempt to overshadow their failure, their collapse in Bakhmut, or maybe this was in response to the 11th wave of sanctions package announced by the EU yesterday.
It can be many things, but what’s important to us is that this is a direct provocation to trigger our society that puts the government to a serious test. This will undoubtedly cause increased tensions between the parties, although I’m sure it won’t cause any friction within society. This will trigger a backlash in society, who understands that Russia is making this move solely out of its own interests.
It’s a shame that our government has not gleaned any lessons from our history and precedents that exist, that Russia will never respond to the government’s concessions in kind, but only demand more, this is their constant behavioral pattern that the government should think about,” stated Zurabishvili.
The President called on the government to define its stance clearly. According to Salome Zurabishvili, it is time for the National Security Council to assemble and discuss the matter of establishing 3-month visas with Russia.
“More control is needed from the state over those Russians who enter the country, who stay in the country, and it is necessary to take some measures so that all this falls into a normal, civilized framework. We are a very unprejudiced country, we are open to everyone, this has already been shown during last year, but there are some things that cannot happen in the country. Russian-speaking kindergartens cannot be opened. It is unfair not to impose certain measures and regulations on different professions; this can mean licensing for taxi drivers, tour guides, and many other professions. This is a course of action to preserve our society and it will be the right response to today's provocation.
We don’t need any handouts from Russia, pretending they are giving us some kind of favor. We stand alongside our European friends and we should protect our integrity by not jumping into a new relationship with Russia contrary to everybody else, which will complicate everything, including shielding our country from accusations of helping Russia circumvent the sanctions. Today, there is no such threat from Georgia, but we should create a situation where these accusations intensify and we are no longer able to defend ourselves.
I appeal to the government to listen not to people’s force but to people’s voices. I am confident that the society is united on this matter, not just because this move is yet another factor that goes against us receiving the EU candidate status, but also because it opposes Georgia’s interests and dignity. We need to know where this country stands; a country that is occupied and stands in solidarity with our Ukrainian friends. This is our stance and we should stand by it until the end. This is our society’s demand and I’m sure, should things go differently, the society will have a response,” stated Samole Zurabishvili.
Today, on May 10, Vladimir Putin issued two decrees. The first orders the enactment of a visa-free regime with Georgia starting from May 15, and the second - the restoration of direct air travel between Russia and Georgia. Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia retracted the recommendation to its citizens to refrain from traveling to Georgia.
