Georgian Foreign Minister in favor of resuming flights to Russia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgia is in favor of resuming direct flights with Russia, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani told reporters on Friday, October 4, adding that Georgia would welcome such a decision from Moscow, TASS reports.

"I hope that such a decision (to resume flights - TASS) will be approved as soon as possible. Georgia is ready for this. We only welcome the resumption of this process. My stance is well-known: I have said the same during the meeting in New York (with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov - TASS), as the relations between people and the development of tourism facilitate de-escalation," Zalkaliani said.

On October 4, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow would resume flights to Georgia after Tbilisi ends its hostile policy against Russia. "[The flights resumption can be expected] when the situation is obvious that there is no more return to aggression," Peskov said. The Kremlin spokesman noted that Moscow saw the first positive signals, namely the recent meeting in New York between the Russian and Georgian foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov and David Zalkaliani. However, he pointed that some politicians in Tbilisi "were up in arms" over this meeting.

On September 26, the Georgian top diplomat met with Lavrov on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York for the first time since 2008, when Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow after Russia had recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Since then, there have been no direct regular talks between Russia and Georgia, except the informal Prague Talks between Georgian Special Presidential Representative for Settlement of Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.