Georgia wants to stop Russia-Abkhazia aviation cooperation

Georgia is to seek international recognition of the "illegal" aviation cooperation between Russia and Abkhazia, reports Interfax.

"The Georgian Foreign Ministry will take all legal measures to halt the illegal actions of Russia in regards to cooperation with Abkhazia in the sphere of air transport,” the head of the Foreign Ministry’s international relations department said in parliament.

He said the US ambassador to Georgia could raise the issue with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the near future.

The ambassador’s meeting will see a discussion of the international status of Abkhazia’s Sukhumi airport.

Georgian transport chief Levan Chichinadze said that neither Russia nor any other country had the right to allocate an international aviation code to Sukhumi airport without Tbilisi’s agreement.

“Any airline that flies illegally into Sukhumi will be put on the ICAO’s so-called black list,” he said.