MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/. Moscow is ready for a dialogue with Tbilisi at least at the level of parliaments, Russia’s Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told a press conference.
"If Georgia wishes to hold a dialogue we are ready even now, despite the lack of diplomatic relations," she said, adding that "this is the mission of parliamentarians, this is what they are elected for."
"So far there are no contacts, it’s clear, this is not our fault," Matviyenko said. "There are complicated political processes underway in Georgia, much is being reconsidered," she noted. "There will be elections in Georgia in October and, of course, they <…> will determine both the economic, social and political line of development," Russian Federation Council Speaker said, adding that the West is involved in interference with this process "using well-known scenarios, instruments."
On May 15, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree abolishing the visa regime for citizens of Georgia came into force. In another decree, he cancelled the ban on direct flights by Russian airlines to Georgia enforced in 2019.