Georgian flight marks end of Russian air embargo
TBILISI, Georgia (AFP) — A passenger plane on Tuesday flew from the Georgian capital Tbilisi to Moscow, ending an 18-month air embargo imposed by Russia as part of its sanctions against the Western-leaning ex-Soviet republic.
The Georgian Airways Boeing 737 with 90 registered passengers was seen off from Tbilisi Airport by Georgia's ambassador to Moscow and its economy minister and arrived at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport shortly after 1700 GMT.
The flight across the Caucasus mountains marked the first softening of an economic blockade imposed by the Kremlin in October 2006 amid rapidly worsening relations with Georgia, which had angered Moscow by applying to join NATO.
"It's a very significant day. We hope the resumption will lead to the complete renewal of economic relations. We hope that other restrictions will be lifted as well," said Georgia's economy minister, Yekaterina Sharashidze.
Sharashidze said maritime links would also be restored on Friday.
There was no sign, however, that road links between the neighbours were soon to be restored or that Russia would lift a ban on imports from Georgia -- a heavy burden on the country's economy.
Tensions spiralled in 2006 when Georgia arrested four Russian military officers on spying charges and the harsh Russian measures also reflect anger over Georgia's bid to integrate with Western institutions, particularly NATO.
Tbilisi, meanwhile, accuses Russia of undermining its sovereignty and supporting separatist rebels in the breakaway border regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russia's parliament last week voted a resolution calling on the government to consider recognising the rebel territories if Georgia's NATO bid goes ahead.
A light-hearted atmosphere filled Tbilisi's airport as the flight got underway. Boarding the Boeing to say goodbye to the passengers, Sharashidze quipped to the captain: "Do you remember the way?"
One of the passengers, Marina Daraseli, said the lifting of the air travel ban was a blessing.
"Half of our family is in Moscow and half in Tbilisi and we often travel between the two," she said. "For many families in Georgia it was crucial to resume direct flights. We have waited a long time for this."
The next flashpoint for Russian-Georgian tensions will come at the NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4, where Georgia, like ex-Soviet Ukraine, is pushing to be given formal assurance that their applications are on track.
Russia's president-elect Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview in the Financial Times that bids by Georgia and Ukraine to join the Western alliance are "extremely troublesome for the existing structure of European security".
"No state can be pleased about having representatives of a military bloc to which it does not belong coming close to its borders," Medvedev said.
Mikhail Alexandrov, a Caucasus expert at Moscow's Institute for Commonwealth of Independent States think tank, said Russia's barely-veiled threats to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia have put Georgia in a corner.
The resumption of flights "does not mean a thaw ... Russia will not make any more concessions until Georgia changes its policies," he said.
"Georgia must decide what is more important -- getting into NATO or getting back its separatist territories."
