The US State Department again reminded Georgian companies serving Russian airlines at Tbilisi and Kutaisi airports of possible sanctions. “We, the entire Western community, have distanced ourselves from the Moscow regime, and now is not the time to build up relations with Russia,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

The day before, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze opposed the introduction of a visa regime for Russians. He said that he welcomed the arrival of as many tourists as possible to Georgia and the arrival of companies that were not under sanctions. Recall that on May 10, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili announced that it is necessary to introduce a visa regime for Russians.

Georgia is a parliamentary republic, where the president performs only representative functions. Recently, its parliament has been taking more and more steps towards rapprochement with Russia, and the Kremlin is also moving towards it. So, on May 15, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the abolition of the visa regime for citizens of Georgia, and on May 17 air traffic between the countries was resumed, which caused an uproar in Europe, the United States, among the President of Georgia and its supporters.