Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced the release from custody in Azerbaijan and the return to Russia of Igor Kartavykh, editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-backed publication Sputnik Azerbaijan. The decision to lift the arrest was made following a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan in Dushanbe.

The release of Mikheil Saakashvili and the cessation of air traffic with Russia are the conditions for the normalization of relations between Ukraine and Georgia. This was stated by the chairman of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, David Arakhamia. He also called on Tbilisi “not to help the aggressor avoid sanctions” and called the Georgian government “pro-Kremlin.”
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze, in turn, called calls to release Mikheil Saakashvili due to his unreliable state of health incorrect. “For two years, the opposition and others lied to the public that Mikheil Saakashvili was in a dying state, that he could die any day. In the end, it was all proven to be a complete lie. Against this background, when once again there are statements and calls to release Saakashvili, this is, to put it mildly, wrong,” Kobakhidze said.