Russia agreed on Tuesday to restore its air link with Georgia, which has been suspended for more than 17 months amid tensions between the ex-Soviet neighbors.
Russia's Transport Ministry said in a statement that it agreed to restore the link, starting next Tuesday, after Georgia agreed to pay a debt for navigation services provided to its planes over Russia.
While Moscow cited financial reasons for the suspension of the air link, Russia's relations with its small southern neighbor have been tense since US-backed Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in late 2003, vowing to integrate Georgia closely with the West.
Russia suspended the air link in October 2006 after Georgian authorities briefly detained four Russian military officers it accused of spying.
While Moscow continues to bristle at Saakashvili's push to join NATO, the two neighbors recently have made efforts to ease tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Saakashvili on the sidelines of a summit of leaders of ex-Soviet nations in Moscow last month, and both governments have moderated their statements.
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Transport Minister Boris Krol sent a letter to Georgian Economics Minister Vakhtang Lezhava saying Russia had agreed to resume regular flights, the Transport Ministry said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry hailed the resumption of air travel as an "important step toward restoring traditional good-neighborly ties" between the two nations.
It said the decision to restore the air link came after Georgia paid Russia's air navigation service US$2 million and agreed to pay a further US$1.7 million through October to fully settle its debt.
There was no immediate comment from Georgian officials.
Despite the restoration of air travel, tensions remain over what Georgian authorities see as Russia's support for Georgia's breakaway provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Both regions have had de facto independence since wars in the 1990s, when Russian peacekeepers were deployed to observe ceasefires. No country recognizes their governments, but Moscow has tacitly supported their autonomy -- granting most of their residents Russian passports and maintaining trade ties.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home