Easter renewal

Community of religion makes it possible for Russia and Georgia to demonstrate, that, despite the tragedy of 2008, not all the ships burnt between the two countries. In the first half of April the «Airzena –Georgian airlines» will make several charter flights en-route Tbilisi-Moscow-Tbilisi. Russian Department of Transport took up the airline request (April 1,2,3,10 12,14) in connection with the Easter holidays.

After the 2008 South Ossetia war «Airzena» has already obtained a permit  to  make charter flights several times, during the Christmas days in 2009 and 2010.  Every time the permission was obtained due to the appeal of the patriarchs of the countries  and political reasons were pushed aside by the authority of the heads of the Church. Russia is known to have stopped all the forms of shuttle service with Georgia in 2006 after the arrest of 4 Russian officers on a charge of espionage. In spring 2009, after the meeting between Putin and Saakashvili a faint hope of  worming of relations began to appear. At least, Russia and Georgia  managed to agree on transport issue then - air service was resumed and flights between from Tbilisi to Moscow and St. Petersburg were made regularly . However, for hundreds of thousand of the Georgian living in Russia , the opportunity of direct flights to their historical motherland turned out to be transitory – Russia has prohibited flights August 9, 2008 already, the next day  after the beginning of the war. Initially for clear safety reasons (during the war seven military airplanes were shot down by heat missiles, which cannot discern bombers and civilian airliner), but when the war was finished  and fragile peace was established, the civic airliners didn’t resume their flights.


The air blind alley

Talks concerning resumption of regular air service to reached an impasse.  Moscow insists on Georgia’s redeeming a debt to russian air navigation service  of Georgian airlines, who have already become bankrupt in 1990. Seemingly, this demand is quite lawful, although nobody troubled his head about this debt before 2006 (that is before scandalous incident with the “spies”). Moreover, as Nino Giorgobiani, the head of the “Airzena” press centre, said to VC “the company owes nothing to Moscow”, we pay faultlessly everything necessary to the corresponding services». Nino Giorgobiani emphasized that «the present day decision on six chartered flights is not connected with the Georgian authorities or activity of any political forces ». It is easy to understand, that the passage concerning “ political forces ” concerns Zurab Nogaideli, who, during his previous visit to Moscow, said that it was he individually who managed to come to the agreement with Vladimir Putin about resuming air service. Meanwhile,  the ex-prime minister was not talking about chartered flights, but about regular air service, resumption of which is hampered by political problems. Moscow insists that the Georgian government should firstly address Russia by submitting official request, and, secondly, pay the abovementioned debt.

Georgian authorities are likely to have taken uncompromising position concerning this question. The matter is not only the elementary self-esteem said Michael Machavariani, the vice-speaker of the Parliament: “The country which stopped flights was not Georgia, but Russia.” Why should we beseech them? And, it is even more significant,  that Moscow is going to conduct flights to Sukhumi without agreeing with the Georgian government and our appeal for air service  may be interpreted demagogically  as reconciling ourselves to the existing state of affairs ».

Stalin technique

In short, in contrast to land communication ( the check point was opened  on the Georgian Military Road), the problem of air service still remains unresolved. Michael Machavariani during the interview with the VC reporter said: «Having opened check point the  Upper Lars » Russia and Georgia reciprocally acknowledged the bound in this sector. The regular flight Moscow-Tbilisi can not coexist with regular flight Moscow-Sukhumi.  Thus , we will sign off  division of our country’s airspace. That is Tbilisi does not oppose flights but only in case if they are resumed under the agreement between private company  and corresponding services in Russia. However, the Georgian authorities categorically do not want to address official request  about it. “Russia has ceased flights unilaterally. So, it should resume them also unilaterally,» Shota Malashkhia,  the deputy of  the party in office “United national movement” noticed

Fortunately, under the conditions of the two warring countries being unable to resolve interstate  controversies, exist the two sister-churches, without any dogmatic controversies between them. March 25, the day when the 20th anniversary of acknowledgement of autocephaly of the Church of Georgia  by the Ecumenical Patriarch has been celebrated in Georgia Ilya II the Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia reminded  during the sermon, that the Russian church has already acknowledged the Georgian Church (re-established in 1918 after the 107-long interval) in 1943. However  the Patriarch didn’t fail to notice  that it happened after the interference of Iosif Dzhugashvili. According to his Holiness, «Stalin  invited all the hierarchs the Russian Orthodox Church and asked how long are they going to ignore the Georgian Church ? After this conversation the problem dissolved».

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VC