Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at the CIS summit in Moscow, February 21, 2008
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Abkhazia Wants to Reopen Its Airport
Abkhazian authorities have announced that they may reopen Babushera Airport in Sukhumi, which was closed in 1993, right after the Georgian-Abkhazian war. Vyacheslav Eshba, head of Abkhazian Airlines, said that the airport is ready to operate again and that it could handle the overflow from the Sochi airport. Abkhazian authorities have approached Russia before to renew flights to their airport, but it so far remains inactive. Georgia has expressed strong opposition to the reopening of the airport and threatened to deny Russian airliners navigational services in Georgia, to file suit in international court and to obtain sanctions by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Besides having withdrawn from CIS economic sanctions against Abkhazia, Moscow has announced that air travel to and from Georgia, which was broken off in the autumn of 2006, will be renewed on March 25. Observers say Moscow may use that gesture in exchange for the reopening of the Sukhumi airport.
A source in the Georgian parliament told Kommersant that, at the recent CIS summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested a compromise to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili: “Georgia agrees to the lifting of the embargo, and Georgia and Russia will reach an agreement on jointly involving Abkhazia in the Sochi Olympics. Moreover, Russia will place a number of orders for Olympic preparations in Georgia itself.”
Meanwhile, Givi Tragamadze, chairman of the Georgian Parliament Committee on Defense and Security, told journalists yesterday that the reopening of Babushera Airport would be against international law, since it violates the unity of Georgia's airspace.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 19, 2008
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