The company now operating the Sokhumi airport is closely tied to the Kremlin, and the father of the company's owner is an FSB general holding a high-ranking position. In fact, the restoration of the airport was under the control of the special services, said Paata Davitaia, the chairman of the "European Democrats" party, in an interview on PalitraNews' "Resume" program.
According to Davitaia, due to the war with Ukraine, Russia, which is in isolation, took advantage of the situation because the Sokhumi airport is highly beneficial for them.
He speculates that Russia may have certain guarantees from Georgia regarding this issue.
"The airport was closed by ICAO's [International Civil Aviation Organization] decision, at the request of the Georgian government. It is still closed today. A country operating flights to this airport loses its flight license. Up until now, Russia could not operate flights there, nor could any civilian aircraft land, except for military planes involved in drug trafficking. UN helicopters used to land when the UN mission was working. I want to emphasize that no aircraft could land there legally.
As soon as Russia began the occupation of Ukraine and withdrew from all international agreements, ICAO sanctions were imposed, and Russia started restoring flights. ICAO is like the 'UN' in aviation, to make it clearer.
Russia cannot fly to European countries, so they are not losing anything; they are under sanctions. But where are they flying? To Asian and Arab countries. These countries are ICAO members, so if the Georgian government worked on this issue, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and raised the matter in ICAO, Russia could face consequences for flying to these [Asian and Arab] countries. We see that the Georgian government has not only failed to raise this issue, but they haven't even made a statement about it.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should work on this issue to put pressure on these countries through ICAO and make it difficult for Russia to operate flights. It seems that Russia has some guarantees that this won't happen, which is why they took this step.
The company now operating this airport is closely tied to the Kremlin, and the father of the company's owner is an FSB general, holding a high-ranking position. In fact, the restoration of this airport was done under the control of the special services. They have now conducted a technical flight and plan to resume regular flights from May 1st. What did Russia achieve by this? Russia has alleviated the pressure on the Sochi Tuapse airport, and now there is talk of the second stage of construction, which will accommodate cargo planes.
Russia has seized this moment because they are in isolation due to the war. If negotiations with Ukraine are made and the situation eases, we should also use this moment to stop these developments, as flights have not yet begun. The state should have started a policy in this direction, which has not happened, and so Russia is taking advantage of this and reinforcing everything. There is no Abkhaz pilot in nature, nor are there any technical dispatchers to handle the planes; they were all Georgians. Therefore, now the Russians will settle there and ensure the navigation activities, increasing Russian infrastructure.
The Sokhumi airport is unique because you can land in both directions – toward the sea and the other direction. There is no wind, and from a weather perspective, it is much more advantageous than the Tuapse airport. Therefore, the Russians will take advantage of this, and if we remain silent, they will get used to it," Davitaia concluded.
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