"As for the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin made it clear that the possibility of introducing a visa-free regime with Georgia was not excluded. We remain open to joint comprehensive work with the Georgian authorities on these issues," Karasin told RIA Novosti.
He said that Russia had significantly liberalized the visa regime with Georgia in December 2015.
"Today the rules imply that each Georgian citizen may visit our country on the invitation of each Russian citizen, organization or a foreigner permanently living [in Russia] without any restrictions. And we are glad to state that during this year the number of visas issued by our Interests Section in Tbilisi had almost doubled … I have no doubts that positive tendencies will be boosted in 2017," Karasin said.
"However, in the modern world where terrorist and other threats are significantly growing, the ‘tourist countries,’ of course, cannot expect an ‘automatic’ reciprocation in visa issues," Karasin added.
Russian citizens can travel to Georgia without obtaining a visa, but Georgians need a visa to visit Russia. During last year's news conference, Putin said that Moscow was prepared to abolish visa regime with Georgia.
Diplomatic ties between Russia and Georgia were broken in 2008 following Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s independence. Since then, relations between the two states have remained tense with Georgia being politically close to the West.
