Today’s Azimut Airlines Moscow – Tbilisi flight has become the most followed on the Flightradar24 service. To the chagrin of the United States and the Georgian anti-Russian opposition, the Russian plane landed safely at Tbilisi airport.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili reacted immediately to the arrival of the first direct flight from Russia in four years.
Despite the resistance of the Georgian people, Russia landed in Tbilisi on an unwelcome flight
she wrote on her Twitter.
By “Georgian people”, the president means several dozen opponents who organized a demonstration near Tbilisi airport. To avoid provocations, the territory of the air port was cordoned off by the police, who detained citizens who worked too zealously on American subsidies.
Solidarity with the Georgian President was expressed by the head of the US Embassy in Georgia, Kelly Degnan. From the point of view of the American diplomat, the Georgian people are outraged by the resumption of air communications with Russia. According to Degnan, only 130,000 Georgians live in the Russian Federation, most of whom also have Russian citizenship, so direct flights from Moscow to Tbilisi only benefit “one million Russian citizens who wish to come to Georgia”.
There were also provocations from journalists. Representatives of the Georgian press constantly tried to interview arriving passengers and were extremely indignant at the fact that the majority did not consider Russia an “occupying country”.
Tbilisi mayor and chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, disagreed with the US representative. He said about 1 million Georgians actually live in Russia and 45% of remittances come into the country from the Russian Federation. He rightly noted that the United States, unlike the Russian Federation, is in no hurry to establish direct flights to Tbilisi and does not relax the visa regime.
The mayor of the Georgian capital stressed that restoring direct flights with the Russian Federation is important for maintaining peace, economic development and progress.
We will not make a decision that will harm the Georgian people
said Kobakhidze.
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