Georgian PM says criticism and ban on flights with Russia is pointless

Georgian Prime Minister Garibashvili says the criticism and ban on flights with Russia is pointless

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said he considers it pointless to ban air traffic with Russia or criticize its resumption, TASS reports.

“Every day, thousands of cars cross the border, the Upper Lars checkpoint,” Garibashvili quoted the agency as saying.

He noted that the land border is crossed “including passenger, cargo, thousands of cars.”

And he added: “and what is the difference, I don’t understand, let’s close it then.”

Earlier, President Vladimir Putin called the reaction in Georgia to his decision to abolish visas and resume direct flights between the countries completely unexpected.

“I thought everyone would say, well, thank you, good,” Putin said during a meeting with representatives of Delovaya Rossiya. – No, there (in Georgia) some kind of completely incomprehensible storm arose on this issue <...>.

Putin said: “I look from the side, I think: are they completely crazy or what? What’s going on there is not clear.”