The founder of the national carrier of Georgia, the Georgian Airwaysbanned the country’s president from using its services after she said she would boycott the airline because it resumed flights to Russia, Russian news agency TASS reported today.

This month Russia announced it was lifting a four-year ban on direct flights with Georgia and a ten-year visa requirement for Georgians traveling to Russia.

The president of Georgia Salome Zourabisvili appealed to the Georgian authorities to prevent the Russian initiative, a request they ignored.

THE Tamaz Gayashvilithe founder of the private company Georgian Airways, said today according to TASS, that Zurabishvili is now an “undesirable person” and will be banned from using the company’s services until she “apologies to the Georgian people”.

There has been no immediate reaction from Zurabishvili yet.

Although Georgian officials welcomed the resumption of flights, some Georgians who want their country to distance itself from Moscow in favor of the EU demonstrated against the decision in the center of the capital Tbilisi today.

Many Georgians oppose a rapprochement with Moscow, which recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia after the 2008 war with Georgia. The two provinces are home to thousands of Russian troops and Russia provides significant financial aid.

Other Georgians are more open to the idea, however, and the Georgian government has been working in recent years to improve ties with Moscow by refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over the war with Ukraine.

President Zurabishvili, whose role is largely ceremonial and relations with the government strained, has warned that strengthening ties with Russia could jeopardize the country’s ambition to one day join the EU.