Russia-Georgia flights resume despite protests, strained ties
The Hindu
Russia-Georgia relations have been complicated since the Soviet Union’s collapse in the early 1990s.
Direct flights resumed on Friday between Russia and Georgia amid protests and sharp criticism from the South Caucasus nation’s president, just over a week after the Kremlin unexpectedly lifted a four-year-old ban despite rocky relations.
Georgian police on Friday afternoon dispersed protesters who had gathered at Tbilisi airport to meet an Azimuth Airlines flight from Moscow, the first to arrive from Russia since July 2019, with signs and slogans criticizing the Kremlin and what they described as the current Georgian government’s pro-Russia course.
Georgia’s pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has previously clashed with the government over mending ties with Moscow, also voiced her opposition in a tweet posted on Friday.
“Despite the opposition of the Georgian people, Russia has landed its unwelcome flight in Tbilisi. No to flights to Russia!,” Ms. Zourabichvili said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last Wednesday unexpectedly abolished visas for Georgian nationals and lifted the flight ban Moscow unilaterally imposed in 2019 after a wave of anti-Kremlin protests in Georgia.
Mr. Putin’s decrees came a day after leaders of several Central Asian and South Caucasus states stood beside him at a military parade marking the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II, in what looked like the Kremlin seeking to show that Russia still had allies and wasn't completely isolated.
Following Mr. Putin’s decrees, Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement lifting its 2019 recommendation for Russian citizens to avoid traveling to Georgia.
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