Russia Partially Resumes Visas for Georgia
Russia will partially resume issuing visas to Georgian citizens on May 29, eight months after it was suspended by Moscow amid a spy row with Georgia.
?We will issue visas to those citizens, whose family members live in Russia and are Russian citizens. A private invitation from a close relative will be enough to obtain a visa,? Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko said after meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili on May 28.
He also said that Georgian citizens who had a right to reside in Russia on a temporary basis would also receive visas.
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has welcomed the Russian side?s decision as ?positive?, however he noted that ?it is only a partial simplification and not full resumption, as requested by the Georgian side.?
The decision comes ahead of a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and Georgia on the sidelines of an informal CIS summit to be held in St. Petersburg on 10 June.
The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi, however, said on May 29 that the decision was humanitarian in intention, not political.
Besides the visa sanctions, Russia cut air, sea, land and railway links, and postal communication with Georgia last October, following the arrest and subsequent expulsion of alleged Russian spies.
Before the spy row erupted, Russia had banned the import of Georgian agricultural products in late 2005 and Georgian wine and mineral water in spring, 2006.
Russia also closed the only legal border crossing with Georgia at Zemo Larsi last summer.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
