US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan said she understands the Georgian people’s concerns over the resumption of direct flights between Russia and Georgia.

“Well, I understand why Georgian people are concerned about this, are worried about this. This is not about sanctioning Georgians. The recent census numbers show there are only about 130,000 Georgians living in Russia anyway, and most of them are either dual Russian-Georgian citizens or if they wanted to leave Russia, they left last year. What this is really about is maybe a million Russian citizens that want to come to Georgia. This is for the convenience largely of Russians who want to come to Georgia, not about Georgia.

So I think it’s understandable why people are concerned, why people want to have a better understanding of what this is going to cost Georgia. If there are further steps to normalize by Russia to try to normalize relations with Georgia, while Russia still occupies 20% of Georgia’s territory, still detains eight Georgian citizens in South Ossetia, still puts incredible pressure on this country, while Russia is attacking and bombing Ukraine, I think it’s fair for Georgian citizens to be concerned,” she said.

On May 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled the ban on direct flights of Russian airlines and the sale of tours to Georgia that had been in force since 2019. By another decree, Russia lifted a visa requirement for Georgians.