"If someone wants to punish a company, it's their choice" - Kobakhidze again welcomes flights to Russia

"What needed a unilateral decision in 2019, does not need a tango in 2023. It also needs a unilateral decision in 2023, therefore it is unnecessary to talk about a bilateral dance," says Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of "Georgian Dream", about the restoration of flights between Russia and Georgia.

Kobakhidze once again said that "Dream" welcomes the lifting of unilateral sanctions by Russia.

And as for the US Department of Defense's statement that the resumption of flights between Georgia and Russia will pose a threat of sanctions to those companies that will serve Russian companies at Georgian airports, Kobakhidze says that it is not up to them to decide. "If someone wants to punish the company, it's his business, if someone wants to remove the sanction, it's also his business," says Kobakhidze.

"Someone says that sanctions and punishments should be lifted, someone says that companies should be punished. This isn't up to us is it? Neither punishing companies nor removing punishments. These are not our issues to solve.

Our position regarding the resumption of flights is simple - it was a sanction imposed on Georgia by Russia in 2019, which certainly worsened the situation of our citizens, and we remind you that 800,000 Georgian citizens live in the Russian Federation, if they lift the sanction, we welcome it, it will be a relief for our fellow countrymen.

If someone wants to punish the company, it is his business, if someone wants to lift the sanction, it is also his business. As for the resumption of flights, this is a unilateral sanction, if it is removed by the Russian Federation, it will be welcome for us," says Kobakhidze.