Indonesia is launching the flight because “Russia is now looking to the East, so we are also looking towards Russia,” Helmi explained. Also on Friday, the first Russian plane landed in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi after a four-year hiatus. The arrival was met by a small group of anti-Russia protesters at the airport. On Saturday, meanwhile, the first Georgian Airways plane arrived in Moscow, with its pilot saying on social media that “direct flights are profitable and the right thing to do. The wait is over.” Moscow suspended air traffic in and out of Georgia in the summer of 2019 in response to a series of violent anti-Russian protests in Tbilisi during which demonstrators attempted to storm the parliament building. Earlier in May, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees that lifted the flight ban and also the visa regime with Georgia.
Also on the same day, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said that air traffic between Russia and Cuba would resume starting July 1. Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot said that it initially plans to make two flights a week to the Cuban resort of Varadero. Flights between Russia and Cuba were stopped after the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.