There is nothing scandalous in the audio recording, [Grigory] Karasin [Head of the International Affairs Committee of the Council of Russia] asked me for my opinion and I confirmed that it was not appropriate to start talking about the restoration of air traffic. Such a statement made Zurab Abashidze, adviser to the Prime Minister on relations with Russia, while commenting the audio recording disseminated by “Cyber Kmara”.

“That I had a telephone conversation with Karasin, there is nothing new about it. For this purpose, the so-called Prague format was created since 2012, namely to discuss transport, trade and humanitarian issues. It has been a year and 8 months since we talked with him about these and other topics. The telephone conversation, which they leaked, took place in March, 2022.

He asked me for my opinion and I confirmed that it was not appropriate to start talking about the restoration of air traffic between the two countries. This is the proof that the principle decision to restore flights with Georgia was taken independently by the Russian side later, which is what we have been saying all along.

After this conversation, this topic was no longer discussed with Grigory Karasin”, - said Zurab Abashidze.

“Cyber Kmara” released an audio recording on YouTube, which, according to them, depicts a conversation Zurab Abashidze and Grigory Karasin, about the possibility of resuming flights between Russia and Georgia in March 2022. According to the recording, Karasin is interested in the opinion of Abashidze, as to how appropriate it is to start negotiations on the mentioned issue in the said period.