Putin banned Russian airlines from flying to Georgia, and Georgian airlines from flying to Russia

21 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning Russian airlines from 8 in July to transport Russian citizens to Georgia. Companies have stopped selling tickets. Passengers who have already bought them are offered tickets for earlier flights.

“Compatriots in Georgia are recommended to return to Russia before July 8. Passengers will be offered to change tickets for flights of Russian companies to earlier dates without financial losses,” a representative of Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov told reporters, writes Air force.

“Companies are currently informing their customers about this,” he added. “Some of them are ready to take Russians out after July 8, but through the airports of Armenia and North Ossetia.”

Companies send passengers SMS alerts.

Putin's decree also instructs the government to take measures to return Russian citizens and their luggage from Georgia to their homeland. The decree recommends that for the duration of the ban, tour operators and travel agents “refrain from selling tourism products to citizens,” which include “transportation to the territory of Georgia.”

According to estimates by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, there are now about 5-7 thousand organized Russian tourists in Georgia, and two to three times more independent travelers.

“All tour operators have confirmed their readiness to stop selling such tours,” Zarina Doguzova, head of the Federal Tourism Agency, said on Saturday. According to her, tour operators are obliged to return money in full to tourists who did not have time to fly to Georgia.

Air tickets to Georgia as part of tours up to the New Year were purchased by about 3,5 thousands of people, clarified later in Rostourism.

Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that the condition for lifting the ban on flights would be the normalization of the situation in the country.

“The situation in Georgia must return to normal, and any threats to the safety of our citizens must disappear,” he told RBC on Friday.

On the subject: Because of the Russian MP, mass protests began in Georgia: there are victims

What are airlines doing

Six Russian airlines fly to Georgia. They stopped selling tickets for flights in this direction from July 8 and are ready to return money for tickets purchased on later dates.

Aeroflot announced on Saturday that from July 8 it will completely stop operating flights to Tbilisi, “the frequency of which in the summer flight schedule is 14 per week.”

“From now on, Aeroflot’s main efforts will be aimed at removing citizens of the Russian Federation who are there from the territory of Georgia,” the statement says.

Фото: Depositphotos

On the eve of the termination of flights with 8 July announced the second largest Russian airline S7. Red Wings has closed the sale of tickets for all its flights to Georgia with the date of departure after 8 July. Passengers who have bought tickets for these dates will be refunded the full price of the ticket, Red Wings reported.

The low-cost airline Pobeda, part of Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Nordavia, has also flown to Georgia so far. They also canceled ticket sales. General Director of Ural Airlines Sergei Skuratov said that the airline would suffer significant losses due to the ban.

One of the leaders of the opposition Georgian Republican Party, Levan Berdzenishvili, called the ban on Russian airlines flying to Georgia “an attempt to punish the Georgian people.”

Georgian airlines will be banned from flying to Russia

The Russian authorities will temporarily prohibit Georgian airlines from flying to Russian airports from July 8, Interfax and TASS reported, citing sources. The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation confirmed this information, quotes Medusa.

Flights between Georgia and Russia are carried out by Georgian airlines Georgian Airways and MyWay Airlines.

Russians are mass air tickets

This will greatly facilitate the task of returning the Russians home, reported in the Cabinet of Ministers of the Russian Federation, writes TASS.

All six Russian airlines operating regular flights to Georgia record a massive surrender of airline tickets. A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister, Maxim Akimov, told journalists about this, commenting on the outcome of the meeting on a temporary ban on flights to Georgia.

“At the meeting, it was noted that all airlines are registering a massive sale of tickets for flights to Georgia, which will greatly facilitate the task of returning the remaining Russians home. Transportation of passengers and luggage will be carried out as usual,” he said.

The meeting, chaired by Akimov, was attended by representatives of government agencies, airlines and other entities.

“Decisions have been developed to minimize possible negative consequences for Russian citizens in Georgia and to organize their comprehensive information about options for returning home. “The issues of operating hotlines of airlines and travel agencies, informing citizens through their websites and using SMS notifications have been worked out,” he said.”

For example, until July 8, Aeroflot now has 2100 empty seats for a return flight from Georgia. Other Russian air carriers also have available seats, Akimov’s representative added.

On the subject: Protests in Georgia: who is the State Duma deputy Gavrilov, from whom it all began?

Protests in Georgia

In Georgia, the second day of continuing mass protests. The reason for them was that State Duma Deputy Sergei Gavrilov went up to the speaker’s rostrum in the country's parliament and spoke Russian.

On the night of Friday, police in Tbilisi used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse a demonstration in the city center. The rally participants demanding the resignation of members of the government tried to break into the courtyard of the parliament building.

According to the Georgian Ministry of Health, 240 people, including 80 police, were injured during the clashes. Georgian MIA reported 305 detainees during a protest rally in the Georgian capital.

21 June it became known that the head of the Georgian parliament, Irakli Kobakhidze, resigned.

The same evening, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned the citizens of the country not to visit Georgia.

“Mass riots continue in Tbilisi. In this regard, the Russian Foreign Ministry strongly recommends that Russian citizens, in the interests of their personal safety, refrain from traveling to Georgia,” the press release stated.

On Friday, official representative of the department Maria Zakharova said on the Rossiya TV channel that recommendations for Russians not to visit Georgia were given because the country's authorities did not provide security guarantees to tourists.

The Department of Tourism of Georgia said that trips to Georgia remain safe, all tourist destinations and attractions are open, the tourist infrastructure and transport work without interruption.

Entrepreneur Gia Vashakidze with dual citizenship of Georgia and Russia:

“Of course, this will negatively affect my family, because we are connected with both Russia and Georgia. This will make it difficult for us to move in both directions. Many Russian tourists come here, and this will reduce the flow of tourists and in general there will be an attempt to create a negative background around Georgia on the territory of the Russian Federation. I don’t think that any danger threatens Russian tourists on the territory of Georgia, as well as tourists from other countries. I think this is either specially biased actions in Russia or simply a lack of understanding of the essence of the actions in Georgia. At least today we can say that these are not so much anti-Russian actions, but rather anti-government actions aimed at internal life in Georgia.”

Misha Kutsiya, dual citizenship driver:

“This decision, of course, will affect my family, because my wife is a Russian citizen, and she must leave once a year, according to Georgian law, in order to return again. “99% of my guests are Russians. Of course, this is not good for my business, but it will affect not only me, but the whole of Georgia. But it's not scary. We will build everything from scratch and try to do it as is necessary and accepted in a civilized society.”

On Friday, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called unrest in central Tbilisi a tragedy and called on all political forces to unite in a crisis situation. Due to events in the capital, she interrupted her official visit to Belarus.

“I am ready to meet with all political forces. Our only hope lies in unity. This is the only way we can respond to the [Russian] occupation, the only way we can show the world the dignity of Georgia,” Zurabishvili said in a video message. “I want to express my heartache for the tragedy that occurred in Tbilisi,” she added.

Zurabishvili also admitted that the country's authorities made a mistake by allowing a Russian deputy to take the chair of the chairman of the Georgian parliament. The day before, she wrote on Facebook that Russia is interested in destabilizing Georgia.

“Russia is our enemy and occupier. The fifth column controlled by it may today be more dangerous than open aggression. “I would like to say once again that the split of the country and society and internal confrontation benefit no one except Russia, and today this is its most experienced weapon,” she said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the statements of the Georgian president unprofessional, and attempts to blame Russia for what was happening as “distorting the situation.” “I think these statements are extremely unprofessional. Maybe she just hasn’t gotten into the swing of things yet, or is deliberately distorting the situation,” Medvedev said.

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said he would have to postpone the issue of abolishing visas for Georgian citizens, which allegedly could be resolved soon.

“For our part, we believe that everything must be done to ensure that the safety of Russian citizens and families going on vacation is guaranteed. Until the Georgian side gives this guarantee, tourism cannot be developed, much less stimulated by abolishing visas. We have already come to this decision, and it would have been made if not for the actions of Georgian radicals and the inability of the Georgian leadership to ensure law and order,” Interfax quotes him as saying.

What will happen to the tourism industry of Georgia

In the Association of Tour Operators of the country indicated the need to reorient to the other states of the CIS and Eastern Europe, writes TASS.

Georgian tour operators and companies operating in the tourism sector will have to rebuild their field of activity due to the ban on direct flights to Russia and to look for new tourists in neighboring countries. This assessment was voiced by the TASS correspondent on Saturday by the head of the Association of Tour Operators of Georgia, Saba Kiknadze.

“Tourism workers who offer Russian-language services will have to switch to the rest of the CIS countries and Eastern Europe. In all likelihood, there will be a decline in tourists from Russia. Accordingly, it will be necessary to attract new vacationers. It should be said here that, basically, Russian tourists coming to Georgia take advantage of inexpensive holidays,” Kiknadze said. According to his calculations, Georgian tour operators will need a year and a half to rebuild.

In turn, Ekaterina Lomadze, a member of the Georgian Guides Association, believes that the ban on air traffic is temporary, which, of course, will affect the country’s tourism sector. However, from her point of view, in the long term it will be lifted and “everything will come to its senses.”

With particular concern for the possible reduction of Russian tourists, people who are engaged in private carrying in Georgia and are offering tourists a visit to various sights look at it.

“I am a private driver. I have a minivan in which I drive tourists, mainly from Russia. Naturally, if they no longer come, then I won’t be able to earn money,” Tbilisi resident Georgiy Poghosyan told a TASS correspondent.

According to the National Tourism Administration, in May of this year, Russian citizens made more than 172 thousands of visits to the republic, which is 53,2% more compared to the same period last year.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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