Georgia: Civil Aviation Agency rejects “unverified and baseless” TV report on Russian oligarch

Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia on Saturday denied as “unverified and false” a report by the opposition-minded Formula News platform that claimed that a plane owned by the sanctioned Russian oligarch Evgeny Giner had been permitted to be parked at the Tbilisi International Airport “for nearly a month now”.

According to the Agency, the CRJ 200 cargo plane that landed at the Airport on March 25 was registered to the Malta-based Blue Square Aviation Group and had valid authorization to land for technical repair.

Moreover, the Georgian state body said it had issued the necessary permit for Georgian Airways to service the plane, and that the plane had landed in Tbilisi after its flight registration documents had requested an advance landing for crew rest at a midpoint between its origin in Yerevan, Armenia, and its destination in Trabzon, Turkey.

Despite the fact that the plane was supposed to fly to its destination on March 26, the Agency reported it was still being serviced by Georgian Airways at Tbilisi Airport. The information on the exact technical work being done on the plane may be confirmed with the latter business or Maltese authorities, according to the authority.

The Agency claimed in its comments on the item that sparked the controversy that Formula News had requested information on the plane but had gone through with its ownership claims despite the state body’s response. It also accused the outlet of having a “habit of unjustified sensationalism” and of “deliberately deceiving” the public by failing to tell viewers of reactions from state officials.