Russia and Georgia to reopen border crossing

Dec 29, 2009, 15:49 GMT

Moscow/Tbilisi - Russia and Georgia, who fought a war in August 2008 over two breakaway Georgian provinces, have agreed to reopen their sole border crossing, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

The spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko, told the news agency Interfax that the two countries planned to reopen the only crossing that does not go through the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on March 1, 2010.

The crossing has been closed since 2006 due to the poor relations between Russia and Georgia.

In the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the airline Georgian Airways announced it intended to recommence flights to Russia after receiving the green light from Russian authorities.

The airline said it had received the go-ahead from the Russian transportation ministry the previous day to begin charter flights to Moscow and St Petersburg on January 6. The flights had ceased with the outbreak of the war, but disruptions had occurred during previous years as well.

Despite the small steps towards rapprochement, Russia and Georgia do not currently maintain diplomatic relations. Their bilateral issues are handled by neutral Switzerland.