President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that he saw no obstacle to resuming visa-free travel for Georgians and air links with Georgia that were cut after last year’s brief war.
Medvedev’s comments were the first indication by a senior Russian official that some thawing in relations with Georgia might be in prospect after their August 2008 conflict over Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.
“I am not going to contact the incumbent Georgian president, but this is not a reason we should put off other decisions until later,” Medvedev told a media forum.
“Visas are a hassle. … I hope that it [a visa-free regime] will happen for Russia and Georgia,” he said.
He added that he saw “no problem” in direct flights by air companies and opening a border checkpoint.
Russia stopped issuing visas for Georgian citizens after the war, when the two countries suspended diplomatic relations.
The cutting of trade and transportation links was among the first moves Russia took against Georgia in the build-up of tensions that ultimately led to their brief war.
Medvedev also said Georgian wine, which was banned in 2005 on the grounds it was dangerous to consumers, could make it back into Russian restaurants and shops.
When asked how Russia would implement the lifting of various bans, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
Any such changes would require the approval of the government, which Putin heads.
Medvedev has ruled out normalizing relations with President Mikheil Saakashvili, who led Georgia’s move away from a traditional reliance on Russia toward close ties with Washington and pursuit of NATO and EU membership. But he has said Russia is not hostile to Georgia as a country.