Russian Foreign Minister names preconditions for restoring flights with Georgia

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov says that Moscow will review the suspension of direct flights with Georgia, imposed on June 21 by President Vladimir Putin, “when all threats to its citizens are eliminated.”

In his interview with the Russian media outlet aif.ru, Russian diplomat says Moscow is looking forward to friendship and cooperation to the benefit of the citizens of Russia and Georgia.

“We hope Georgian authorities would eventually be able to stabilize the social and political situation in the country and eliminate the existing threats to the safety of Russians…If this takes place, necessary conditions will be created for reviewing the possibility of canceling Russia’s precautionary measures, including the ban on flights to Georgia,” he noted.

Lavrov said that Russia does not interfere into the domestic situation in Georgia, referring to large-scale rallies, underway since June 20.

“The relationship between the authorities and the opposition is an internal affair of Georgia. We are not going to interfere with this process. However, we cannot stop being concerned about the attempts of some radical-minded representatives of the Georgian political elite to incite Russophobic attitudes in order to embroil our peoples,” he said.

Russian foreign minister added that such people hardly think about the damage that “they inflict by their actions to their own country, to the well-being of their people, which to a large extent depends on the quality of economic and humanitarian ties with Russia.”

The diplomat also mentioned Georgia’s opposition-minded Rustavi 2 TV, the journalist of which, Giorgi Gabunia, insulted Russia’s Vladimir Putin during the live broadcast early in July by using offensive words.

“It is important that the authorities in Tbilisi found the strength to condemn the shameful trick of one of the local TV channels which insulted the President of Russia and caused outrage in Georgian society itself,” he stressed.

Lavrov said he is sure that things will straighten out with time and “neighborly relations” between the two countries will be resumed.

Large-scale anti-Russian protests were launched in Georgia after the Russian MPs arrived in Tbilisi to participate in the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) session. During the session, Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov addressed the IAO participants from the chair of the Georgian Parliament Speaker, which angered Georgian opposition MPs and protesters outside the building, who tried to enter the parliament, which escalated the situation between the demonstrators and the police.

Around 240 people were injured during the protests while up to 300 were arrested. Later, a decision was taken to wrap up the session and for the Russian delegation to leave the country.

Following these developments, the Russian president imposed a travel ban on Georgia, which took effect on July 8, and in addition to this, export procedures of Georgian wines to Russia were also tightened.