Russian Foreign Minister says he “would resume flights with Georgia”

I would resume flights with Georgia. I think it would be right after the majority of the Georgian population have seen the counterproductivity of the provocation that has taken place in the Georgian parliament, - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Kommersant.

The Foreign Minister said that he had always supported friendship with Georgia.

“I would resume flights. I think this would be a step in the right direction after the majority of the population of Georgia have realized the counter-productivity of the provocation that took place in the Georgian parliament during the session of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. Opposition parties then severely thwarted the event and blamed Russia for taking steps that seemed to have sparked a Russophobic campaign. But there was nothing else but an agreed procedure that was stopped by a group of raging people. They had pre-prepared posters. They did it thoughtfully. The reason for the Russophobic hysteria was not the Russian delegation in the hall. I have always supported friendship with Georgia,” Lavrov said.

He said that Russia had been planning to abolish the visa regime with Georgia in the summer of 2019, but the June events delayed the process.

“It wasn't easy. The process of preparing for it, for obvious reasons, was difficult. Finally, Vladimir Putin decided that we would do this to enable people to communicate, establish contacts and promote tourism. However, the June events, of course, delayed the whole process,” Lavrov said.