By presidential decree, from May 15, Georgian citizens will be able to enter and stay in Russia without a visa for less than 90 days, except for stays for professional reasons.
In a separate decree, the Kremlin lifted a ban in place since 2019 on flights by Russian airlines to Georgia.
Russian diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the two decisions are in line with “our principled approach to gradually facilitate exchanges and contacts” between citizens of the two countries.
The spokeswoman added that this step took place “despite the absence of diplomatic relations” between Tbilisi and Moscow, broken since the war of August 2008.
After this announcement, the Georgian president described Moscow’s decision as a “provocation”.
“Another Russian provocation! The resumption of direct flights and the lifting of the visa ban with Georgia are unacceptable as long as Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine and occupies our lands”, Salomé Zurabishvili said in a tweet.
A blitzkrieg took place between Georgia, one of the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, and Russia in 2008, which led to Moscow’s recognition of the independence of two pro-Russian breakaway republics, South Ossetia. South and Abkhazia, which separated from Georgia in 1992. .
The country is officially seeking to join the European Union and NATO, but non-governmental organizations and opposition activists accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of encouraging authoritarian drift.
In early March, Georgia was rocked by protests against a draft law derived from the Russian model on “foreign agents”, used in Russia to suppress critics of the Kremlin.
Under pressure from massive protests that lasted two days and included clashes with police, the government backed out of the plan.
Moscow, for its part, has accused third countries of inciting the protests, calling them an “attempted coup”.
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