The entire Western community has distanced itself from the Russian Federation, and we believe that now is not the time to increase engagement with Russia. Such a statement made Vedant Patel, the Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State.

“If direct flights take place between Russia and Georgia, that would be of increasing concern - not just to the United States and other Western countries but as well as companies that may be operating out of Georgian airports, if they service aircrafts that are subject to import and exports and other matters.

The entire Western community has distanced itself from Russia, and we believe that now is not the time to increase engagement with Russia.

We have been very clear about our concerns about this, and we’ve been very clear about the fact that we also have taken steps to prohibit Russian aircraft from entering our airspace, as have many Western countries. So we will continue to monitor the situation closely and we’ll take additional steps, as needed. But I don’t have anything to preview from here”, - said Vedant Patel.