MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is resuming passenger flights to the capital of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia for the first time in three decades, state media reported on Friday.
A first test flight from Moscow to Sukhumi took place on Friday and regular flights are expected to begin in May, Russian news agency RIA said.
The Black Sea resort of Sukhumi has been a favourite holiday spot for Russians since Soviet times. Its airport was closed in the 1990s during a war that saw Abkhazia break away from Georgian control, but has been newly restored.
The test flight was carried out by a plane belonging to UVT Aero, a private Russian airline, data from Flightradar showed.
Russia recognised Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, as independent states in 2008 after defeating Georgia in a five-day war. It maintains military bases in both regions and props up their economies.
All but a handful of countries continue to recognise Abkhazia as Georgian territory. Tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians were expelled from the region during the war that ended in 1993.
The war soured relations between Russia, which backed the Abkhazian separatists, and Georgia. The two sides have no formal diplomatic ties, but have moved closer in recent years as Georgia’s relations with the West have deteriorated.
A Georgian government spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the resumption of flights.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
