On April 9, people shop on a crowded market street in Istanbul.
Photographer: Chris McGrath / Getty Images
Photographer: Chris McGrath / Getty Images
Russia suspended most air travel with Turkey, citing growing coronavirus infections, and cut off a key source of tourist revenue in the country amid tensions over Ankara’s support for Ukraine.
Most charter and scheduled flights will be suspended between April 15 and June 1, but there will still be two weekly flights between Moscow and Istanbul, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said in a television session on Monday. Eighty percent of the Covid-19 cases identified in Russians returning from abroad were from people coming from Turkey, said public health director Anna Popova herself.
Some 500,000 Russians had booked excursions to Turkey during the period, which covers two holidays, according to RIA Novosti, which cited the Russian Association of Tour Operators. On Monday, the Istanbul Stock Exchange’s tourism index fell 6.4% as rumors spread about the suspension of flights and closed at the lowest level since Jan. 11.
Russia was the largest source of tourists in Turkey last year, with 2.13 million people visited despite coronavirus restrictions.
Daily cases in Turkey, the highest in Europe, reached a record 55,941 on April 8. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to announce stricter measures of social distancing after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Erdogan welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the weekend amid tensions with Moscow over a massive Russian accumulation of troops near its border with Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Erdogan about the crisis in Ukraine and the situation of Covid-19 the day before.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any link between the flight ban and Zelensky’s visit, and told RIA Novosti that the measure is only related to the coronavirus situation. Russia also suspended flights to Tanzania on Monday and cited the outbreak there.