Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday abolished visas for Georgian nationals and lifted a 2019 ban on direct flights to the South Caucasus nation, a move that comes amid rocky relations between the two countries and that was quickly denounced by Georgia’s president as a “provocation.”
According to a decree Putin signed, starting from May 15, Georgian nationals will be allowed to enter Russia without visas — unless they’re coming to Russia to work or to stay for longer than 90 days.
Another presidential decree lifts a ban on direct flights by Russian airlines to Georgia. Russia unilaterally imposed the ban in 2019 after a wave of anti-Kremlin protests in Georgia. The decrees come a day after leaders of several Central Asian and South Caucasus nations stood beside Putin at a military parade marking the anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, in what looked like the Kremlin seeking to show that Russia still had allies and was not completely isolated. ap
