Russia's Foreign Ministry Announces No Change in Conditions for Resuming Air Traffic with Georgia

The question of resuming air traffic between Russia and Georgia remains dependent on the situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Georgia's fulfillment of conditions for ensuring the safety of Russian citizens within its territory. This was stated by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko in an interview with TASS, as reported by Armenpress.

“Regarding the resumption of air traffic, in addition to the well-known restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 287 from June 21, 2019, ‘On Certain Measures for Ensuring National Security of the Russian Federation Against Criminal and Other Threats’ remains in effect. This was established in the summer of 2019 due to provocations by Georgian radicals. The conditions for the repeal of this decree have been voiced multiple times by Russian officials,” said the deputy foreign minister.

According to the presidential decree, Russian airlines have been temporarily banned from carrying out air transportation to Georgia since July 8, 2019. This decision came into effect following a mass anti-Russian rally organized in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi, where several thousand people gathered on June 20 of the same year. The occasion for the large-scale protest was the participation of State Duma Deputy Sergey Gavrilov and other delegates from the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy from Russia, which was hosted in the Georgian Parliament building.