The Western countries are clearly putting pressure on Georgia, on the issue of dialogue with Russia, Denis Gonchar, Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Fourth CIS Department, said in an interview with the Russian media.
“Western countries are clearly exerting pressure on Tbilisi, despite the fact that neither air transport nor other components of the trade-economic relations between Russia and Georgia violate the existing sanctions regime,” Gonchar noted.
According to him, Russia evaluates the attempt to extraterritorially apply the “illegitimate” sanctions imposed against it as interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
“We consider the attempts of extraterritorial application of illegitimate anti-Russian sanctions as interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states and their relations with third countries,” said the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to him, the Russian leadership made a decision to restore direct flights with Georgia and to introduce a visa-free regime for citizens of this country “based on the need to promote contacts between the Georgian and Russian peoples, humanitarian and economic ties between Moscow and Tbilisi” and that Moscow will continue to be guided by these considerations.
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