Irakli Gharibashvili: No formal negotiations of any kind were held with Russia, moreover, on behalf of the government - we did everything openly, we said that "yes, we will agree to the flights" and signed an agreement

It's a very incisive question, I don't know how to answer it,this is how Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili addressed the journalist to the question regarding the resumption of flights with Russia.

To the journalist's question - who is lying: Lavrov, who said that the restoration of flights was agreed with Irakli Gharibashvili; or the Prime Minister himself, who said that Russia made the decision independently, Gharibashvili answers as follows:

"It's a very incisive question, I don't know how to answer it. It is very simple, a small child will understand it. I will remind you, before that the President of Russia said that it was his sole decision to restore the visa-free regime and flights. What Mr. Lavrov said today is a confirmation of the fact. Of course, this agreement was signed with the Government of Georgia, in particular, the Aviation Agency of the Ministry of Economy naturally gives consent to the relevant agency and relevant companies, Russian companies, we are talking about this agreement and what scandal did you see in it, what did you discover? Before that, you heard the statement of the first person of Russia, the President, that it was his sole decision. The statement made today is a confirmation of the fact that an agreement was reached with the government. We did not do this secretly. After the government said that it will restore flights and introduce a visa-free regime for our citizens, we welcomed it, we said that it was a good step, which will benefit our people and our country, it is good. We did all this openly, we didn't do it secretly, we said that yes, we will agree, and we even agreed and signed an agreement, we said that only non-sanctioned companies and non-sanctioned planes would fly," Gharibashvili said.

When asked whether former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze took part in the negotiations, Gharibashvili answered as follows:

"There was no formal negotiation of any kind, and moreover, it was not held on behalf of the government, it was the decision of the Russian government, which was then welcomed, approved and signed by our government," Gharibashvili said.