“I don’t know whether the radical opposition lacks space for airplanes to fly over, or why they have these concerns,” said the Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, commenting on opposition politicians’ reactions to the government decree introducing a new restricted, closed airspace zone in Georgia called “Abastumani-2.”

According to Papuashvili, the opposition is trying to harm the country economically and thereby create public dissatisfaction.

“Of course, anything positive that happens in Georgia is attacked and obstructed — that is their main goal. The radical opposition and its external sponsors have exhausted their entire arsenal, especially their political tools. They have tried every possible pretext for attacks in other directions and have failed everywhere. Now their main objective is somehow to damage the country economically in order to stir dissatisfaction among the population. This is exactly a continuation of that policy — to prevent the implementation of successful projects, including the use of scientific potential.

The Abastumani Observatory is an important site and of interest to visitors to Georgia in general. They want as few positive developments as possible and as many negative ones as possible. I don’t know whether the radical opposition lacks airspace for airplanes to fly over or why they have these concerns. Not long ago, we all saw how intensively Georgia’s airspace was being used, and it continues to be so, especially after routes through the Middle East and the north were closed. So there are sufficient routes for aircraft to fly over Georgia, and where necessary, appropriate restrictions for utilizing scientific potential are implemented smoothly.

Most importantly, international organizations are not complaining, airlines are not complaining, pilots are not complaining — yet somehow the radical opposition is,” Papuashvili stated.