Russia will resume flights with the UK along with flights to seven other nations in June however extend travel restrictions to Turkey for another three weeks, Russia’s coronavirus response center announced Monday.
Moscow temporarily suspended flights between Russia and the U.K. in late December, after Britain announced it had discovered a highly transmissible strain of Covid-19. The flight ban, which also affected Turkey as of mid-April, expires on June 1.
Russia’s Covid-19 task force mentioned on its social media that Moscow-London passenger flights will resume on June 2 “due to an improved epidemiological situation within the U.K.”
Beginning June 10, flights will also resume to and from Austria, Hungary, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Morocco, and Croatia.
However, the Covid-19 response center said Russia’s flight restrictions to Turkey and Tanzania will stay in place till at least June 21.
Authorities cited rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in both nations, although observers noted that Moscow’s mid-April announcement followed the Turkish president’s statement in support of Ukraine amid a flare-up in tensions.
Despite the direct flight ban, U.K. citizens have since late April been able to enter Russia via one of the 29 nations with which Russia has resumed regular air connections.
Russia grounded most international flights at the start of its Covid-19 outbreak last spring and has since gradually lifted travel restrictions to nations it deems sufficiently safe.
Most nationals from other nations are still barred from entering Russia on tourist, business, and work visas, with exceptions in place for family members of Russian citizens and those holding Highly Qualified Specialist visas.
