In … the trenches are the government and the national carrier of Georgia, and sanctions against Russia are a bone of contention.

Georgian Airways has resumed flights to and from Russia, which are among the most profitable routes, even though Moscow has troops in the unilaterally independent Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

On Saturday, the company again started flights from Tbilisi to Moscow. The national carrier of Georgia will fly to the Russian capital seven times a week.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili criticized the fact that Georgian Airways is flying to Russia again and announced on Saturday that she would boycott the airline and would not use it.

Responding to a Franco-Georgian politician who has led the country since late 2018, Georgian Airways founder Tamaz Gayashvili said on Sunday that Ms Zurabishvili is not welcome on the company’s planes.

“Madame Salome announced a boycott of the national airline. We declare her persona non grata until she apologizes to the Georgian people, we will not let her on board,” Mr. Gayashvili said.

According to him, Ms. Zurabishvili never supported the national airline. “What can I say about a man who met an Air France plane with great fanfare two years ago and then flew it to Paris for PR. He never had the desire to help Georgian Airways,” he said in a statement.

Gayashvili also reminded the president that he is a descendant of immigrants who left Georgia after the establishment of Soviet power and moved to Paris. At the same time, he is sure that illegal money was taken with him, as well as monastic and museum property.

The founder of the company also emphasized that he does not even consider her the president of the republic, demonstrating the political background of … air combat.

Source: TASS, Reuters.