08:32, 22 June 2019

Putin forbids Russian airlines to fly to Georgia

Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow. Photo: svo.aero © Yuga.ru

Since July 8, Russian airlines are forbidden to transport passengers to Georgia. The Russian government will help organizing the return of Russian citizens from Georgia, says the decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 21, law enforcers dispersed the protest action, launched on June 20 in front of the parliament building of Georgia. According to the Georgian Ministry for Public Health, 240 people were hospitalized, and some of them were seriously injured.

Activists began storming the parliament after the Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov appeared in the chair of the parliament speaker. Russian Communist Party MP was attending opening of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in Tbilisi. As a result, the event was disrupted, the Russian delegation was evacuated to the airport and sent home.

The decree "On Certain Measures to Ensure the National Security of Russia and Its Citizens", signed on June 21 by Vladimir Putin, was published on the Kremlin's website.

According to the decree, since July 8, 2019, Russian airlines "are temporarily prohibited from carrying out air transportation of citizens from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Georgia."

Tour operators are advised not to sell tours to Georgia for the duration of the suspension of flights. The government is instructed to ensure the return of Russians and their luggage from Georgia to Russia.

Air flights between Russia and Georgia were suspended more than ten years ago, in 2006, during the aggravation of the interstate relations; then, they were restored for some time in 2008, then again cancelled in August 2008.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 21, 2019 at 09:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.