TBILISI, September 18 – More than 70,000 passengers have flown on direct routes between Russia and Abkhazia since Moscow resumed air links to the breakaway region earlier this year, according to Russian aviation chief Dmitry Yadrovo in a briefing with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
Flights into Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, restarted on May 1, 2025, the first direct connections in 32 years. Services now operate from Russian cities including Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Khanty-Mansi, Saratov and, most recently, St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport.
Sanctioned Russian carriers UVT Aero, Ikar, iFly and RusLine currently run the routes, with Nordwind Airlines expected to join. All these airlines are banned from flying in the European Union, which in 2022 placed multiple Russian operators on a safety blacklist, saying they failed to meet international aviation standards. The EU, the United States and the United Kingdom also barred Russian airlines from their airspace after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia now lists Abkhazia among the 38 “countries” it claims air links with. Georgia, however, considers Abkhazia an occupied region. Tbilisi’s Foreign Ministry condemned the flights as illegal, calling them a breach of Georgian sovereignty, domestic law on occupied territories, and core principles of international law, including the UN Charter and the Chicago Convention of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), of which both Georgia and Russia are members.
The resumption of flights follows a controversial agreement handing control of Sukhumi airport operations to Russia. Georgia has rejected the deal, stating any such arrangement violates its territorial integrity. Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in the 1990s and fought a bloody war, but failed to achieve recognition internationally. Russia recognized it in 2008 following the South Osssetia war.
