The EU made a demarche to the government of Georgia in connection with the resumption of flights with Russia

On May 29, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, together with the Ambassadors of the European Union Member States, met with the Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Levan Davitashvili, to deliver a diplomatic démarche on the resumption of direct flights with Russia.

During a recent meeting with the Georgian Deputy Prime Minister, Herczyński expressed the EU’s position on direct flights between Georgia and Russia. He stated: “We just had a very open and very frank conversation with the Minister about the direct flights between Georgia and Russia.” Herczyński stressed that his mission was to convey the EU position, which was agreed upon by all 27 EU capitals in Brussels.

The EU Ambassador conveyed the EU’s regret regarding the Georgian government’s decision to accept direct flights with Russia, noting that it contradicts the position of the 27 member states.

Herczyński stated: “We have conveyed that we regret the decision of the Georgian government to accept direct flights with Russia, we have conveyed that this decision goes against the decisions of 27 member states not to have flights to and from Russia and not to allow overflight of Russian airplanes on the territory of EU member states. We have also expressed our concern that this decision goes against our decision to isolate Russia and to put pressure on Russia in order to change Russia’s behavior when it comes to the brutal aggressive war that Russia is still continuing in Ukraine”.

He also noted that although it was Russia’s unilateral decision to restore flights to Georgia, it also required the agreement of the Georgian government.

In response to the arguments presented by the Georgian side, Herczyński said: “Georgian side has conveyed all the arguments that we had already heard about the Georgian government making sure that neither sanctioned airplanes nor airplanes manufactured in the West are used, but this, unfortunately, misses the bigger political point.”

He reminded that the EU has collectively decided to ban all flights to and from Russia, which is an important step taken by all 27 EU member states and other partner countries. The Ambassador expressed that the Georgian government’s decision to accept direct flights with Russia is not viewed positively. However, he added that it will ultimately be up to the 27 member states to assess the impact of this decision on Georgia’s aspiration to join the EU.