The EU regrets the decision by Georgia to resume flights to and from Russia following the latter’s decision to lift the air travel ban. EU Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano said this at a European Commissionmid-day press briefing today.

“We regret Georgia’s decision to resume flights to and from Russia following Russia’s decision to leave the air travel ban last week. Due to the illegal Russian war against Ukraine, the European Union and a number of other countries introduced sanctions against the Russian aviation sector, and we and our partners do not allow flights from Russia, flights to Russia and flights over Russia.

So this is very important to bear in mind and this latest decision by Georgian authorities raises concerns in terms of Georgia’s EU path and Georgia’s commitment to align with the EU decisions in the foreign policy as foreseen in the EU Georgia Association Agreement. So regrettably, George"s alignment with the EU foreign and security policy decisions and declarations has gone down from 44% last year to only 31% so far this year. So this is really raising our concerns and this is very regrettable.

And let me recall what I said also last week about the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization concerns, which were conveyed to the Georgian authorities regarding the overall security of the Russian aviation sector and of the Russian aircraft”, - said Peter Stano.