Peskov: Moscow will Consider Complete Abolition of Visa Regime with Georgia
Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russian state agencies will study the appeal of the Georgian party “Solidarity for Peace” to President Putin with a request to completely abolish the visa regime between Georgia and Russia, reports Russian state-controlled news agency TASS.
Peskov said: “To be honest, I haven’t seen [this appeal]. But if there was one, we will see it. And, of course, our relevant agencies will study this appeal,” the Kremlin spokesman said in response to a related question.
Decree #335, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last year, lifted the visa requirement for citizens of Georgia as of May 15, 2023, allowing them to enter and leave Russia without a visa for up to 90 days on the basis of valid identification documents, including for educational purposes. The decree included a reservation for citizens “entering Russia for the purpose of labor activity or for a period exceeding 90 days for temporary stay in Russia, including for the purpose of education”.
Earlier, representatives of the pro-Russian Solidarity for Peace party, which was founded in 2023, appealed to Putin with a request to completely cancel the visa regime for Georgian citizens, as well as to hold an amnesty for those who were forced to violate the rules of stay in Russia before the easing of the visa regime. In addition, Georgian politicians asked to ease the employment rules for Georgian citizens in Russia.
On June 15, the pro-Kremlin party Solidarity for Peace held its second congress in Tbilisi, where it announced that it would actively participate in the settlement of Georgian-Russian relations up to the restoration of diplomatic relations between the countries, which were suspended on the initiative of official Tbilisi after Russia recognized the occupied Georgian territories as “independent states” in 2008.
Giorgi Iremadze, a member of the political council of Solidarity for Peace, said in an interview with the Russian propaganda TV program on June 15 that a new leader of the party and the composition of the political council had been elected. He said: “Our party is in favor of allied relations between Russia and Georgia. And I hope that first diplomatic relations will be restored and then allied relations,” he said.
The first congress of the party was held in November 2023 where it was announced that the party would start actively preparing for the 2024 parliamentary elections. At that time Merab Chikashvili was elected the leader of the party, who flew on the first direct Moscow-Tbilisi flight in 4 years, after the Russian president lifted the ban on direct flights with Georgia in 2023. He was accompanied by Dimitri Lordkipanidze, director of the Yevgeny Primakov Georgian-Russian Public Center, Mikheil Zhgenti of Solidarity for Peace, Temur Pipia, leader of the Socialist Georgia movement, Valery Kvaratskhelia, head of the Georgian-Russian Friendship Center and chairman of the Neutral Georgia party, and other pro-Kremlin figures. The flight landing was protested by civil activists, who gathered near the Tbilisi airport.
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