Georgian national airline bans country’s president amidst row over flights to Russia

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili’s threat to a national airline over its decision to resume flights with Russia seems to have backfired as the air carrier’s founder has banned her from using its services, Russian news agency TASS reported on Sunday.

Tamaz Gaiashvili, the founder of privately-owned Georgian Airways, told TASS that Zourabichvili has been declared "persona non grata" and would be banned until she "apologises before the Georgian people".

The row erupted after Georgian officials welcomed a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to lift a four-year-old ban on direct flights with Georgia this month. He also removed a decades-old visa requirement for Georgians travelling to Russia.

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President Salome Zourabichvili had asked Georgian authorities not to adhere to the Russian initiative as the US and the European Union had urged Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili-led government to follow sanctions imposed on Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.

But her appeal fell flat as a Georgian Airways plane landed in Moscow earlier on Saturday, according to the Tbilisi airport spokeswoman Nino Tsivtsivadze.

In response, Zourabichvili said that she would not be using the airline.

“I will refrain from using this airline from now on for as long as this company is in the hands of those people who will do anything for money,” Zourabichvili said in a public address on Saturday.

In Georgia, a president’s position is mainly ceremonial, with executive powers being vested with the prime minister. Local media reports state that Zourabichvili’s relations with the government have been strained over the officials’ deepening ties with Russia.

She has repeatedly raised concerns over the country's recent benttowards Russia, saying that it could jeopardise Georgia's chances of joining the EU one day.

First flight from Russia to Georgia since 2019 lands to protests

People protest

Meanwhile, the response to the Russian decision has drawn mixed reactions in Georgia as some have expressed interest in restoring ties with its neighbour, while others want the country to lean towards the European Union, Reuters news agency reported.

Some Georgians, who want the country to distance itself from Moscow in favour of the European Union, demonstrated against it in central Tbilisi on Sunday.

Many Georgians oppose any rapprochement with Moscow whose troops garrison two breakaway regions —Abkhazia and South Ossetia —that make up around one-fifth of the country's territory.

In recent years, the Georgian government has worked to improve ties with Moscow, declining to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

(With inputs from agencies)

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