The Kremlin considers the abolition of the visa regime with Georgia a humanitarian solution

The abolition of the visa regime with Georgia is a humanitarian decision, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

“There was a different reaction yesterday from Tbilisi. There was negative, there was restrained. But in this case, of course, we are talking about a humanitarian decision,” Peskov said, commenting on the reaction of Georgian politicians to the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to cancel the visa regime for Georgians.

According to him, for a long time the Russian authorities have received appeals from citizens and entrepreneurs of both countries, as well as public associations, scientific circles, and cultural figures, who asked them to make these decisions.

“And it was precisely on the basis of humanitarian considerations that it was [сделано]. As for future prospects, I would not run that far yet,” Peskov added, commenting on the possible restoration of diplomatic relations with Georgia against the backdrop of the abolition of the visa regime for Georgians.

May 10 Putin canceled visa regime for citizens of Georgia from May 15. From this date, Georgians will be able to enter Russia for up to 90 days without a visa. To enter Russia, Georgian citizens will need a passport, a service or diplomatic passport, a sailor’s book, as well as a travel document for returning to Georgia. At the same time, the measure does not apply to Georgians arriving in the Russian Federation to carry out labor activities.

President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili named the abolition of the visa regime for citizens of the country by Russia is a provocation – according to her, this decision is unacceptable because of the situation in Ukraine.

The visa regime between Georgia and Russia was introduced in 2000, and in September 2008, after the military conflict in South Ossetia, Georgia severed diplomatic relations with Russia. However, four years later, in 2012, official Tbilisi unilaterally abolished the visa regime for Russians. Citizens of the Russian Federation can stay in Georgia without a visa for up to 360 days. At the end of 2015, Moscow eased the visa regime with Georgia.

In 2021, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia wanted to introduce a visa-free regime for Georgian citizens, but this was prevented by a “gross provocation” against Russian parliamentarians in June 2019. Then anti-Russian protests took place in Georgia, the reason for which was the appearance in the Georgian parliament, State Duma deputy Sergei Gavrilov, who, according to the protocol of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (Gavrilov is its president), was given the chair of the chairman of the Georgian parliament. In response to the speeches, Moscow imposed a ban on flights of Russian airlines to Georgia. May 10, 2023 Putin signed decree to lift the ban.

Russian airlines will start flying between Moscow and Tbilisi seven times a week, reported “Vedomosti” in the Ministry of Transport.