EU threatens Georgia with sanctions if flights with Russia resume

Tbilisi risks falling under secondary sanctionswhen air links with RUSSIA are restored, the EU Foreign Service warned. There have been no direct flights between the countries since 2019, the Foreign Ministry expressed hope

The European Union calls on Georgia to join the sanctions against Russia in the field of aviation and not to resume flights with it, EU Foreign Service spokesman Peter Stano told Georgian netgazeti.

“We are aware of recent discussions about the possibility of restoring direct flights between Russia and Georgia <...> The European Union calls on Georgia to join the sanctions imposed by the EU and other countries against Russia and its aviation sector, and to be vigilant about any attempts to circumvent the sanctions”, - he said. Stano also recalled the risk of secondary sanctions for those who help Russia circumvent restrictions.

In Moscow called the condition for the resumption of flights with Georgia Politics

Stano also noted that Russia's sanctions are making it difficult to modernize its air fleet and that it is therefore a danger to other countries.

A similar warning about secondary sanctions was issued earlier by the US State Department , saying that "now is not the time to expand engagement with Russia." In response, Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Archil Talakvadze said that Tbilisi does not and will not violate the restrictions, Sputnik Georgia reports. At the same time, the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, recalling that the decision to suspend flights in 2019 was made by the Russian authorities, said that Tbilisi would positively accept Moscow's decision to resume flights. However, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili spoke out against it.

The flights were suspended by order of President Vladimir Putin amid protests in Tbilisi following an incident with State Duma deputy from the Communist Party Sergei Gavrilov. During the opening of the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy in the Parliament of Georgia, he sat in the chair of the speaker.

The possibility of resuming air traffic was mentioned by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference on January 18. The HEAD of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, former Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin pointed out that this requires the consent of the Georgian side.

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