Responding to media speculations the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia clarified that due to events unfolding in Belarus the Georgian Ambassador Valeri Kvaratskhelia had to immediately return to Minsk. The Ministry added, that since the flights to Belarus are restricted due to the pandemic, it was decided to use the government-owned airсraft.
Several Georgian media outlets reported that the popular flight control websites registered a flight of the government-owned aircraft to Minsk and back on Sunday, August 16. As no official explanations were forthcoming, Mtavari TV speculated that the flight from Minsk brought to Tbilisi the son of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, embattled Belarusian leader. Others have alleged that the Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, and/or Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani might have flown to the Belarusian capital.
“The Republic of Belarus is a friendly country, with whom Georgia enjoys close relations in both bilateral, as well as Eastern Partnership format,” Georgian MFA stated today.
The Ministry added that Georgian authorities “are closely following events [in Belarus] and have close coordination with our international partners about the matter.”
“We believe that the problems in Belarus should be solved peacefully,” Georgian Foreign Ministry went on, “we hope that the people of Belarus will tackle important problems they face themselves, in a peaceful manner.”
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