How the “stay at home” took on new meaning

Kremlin relations

After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, Russia found itself in a very difficult situation – the United States and many other states imposed sanctions and closed the borders, cutting off air traffic with the Russian Federation and leaving no chance to travel abroad.

photo: Depositphotos

   

On February 21, after an appeal by the President of the Russian Federation, it became known that Russia recognized the DPR and LPR. On the morning of February 24, Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.

The European Union said that the recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR by Russia is a violation of international law, so they promise a decisive response to this desperate step. This decisive step turned out to be more than one package of sanctions both against the authorities and state organizations, and against every resident of Russia.

The EU strongly condemns President Putin’s decision to recognize the non-government-controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as independent entities and the subsequent decision to deploy Russian troops in these areas. This illegal act further undermines the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and is a serious violation of international law and international agreements, including the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris and the Budapest Memorandum,” – Josep Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the EU on Russia’s recognition of the LDNR .

Which countries closed the sky for Russia

Poland, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Moldova were the first to impose restrictions.

Great Britain followed. On February 24, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he would ban Aeroflot flights from landing on the territory of the state. Russia responded in kind – the next day, Aeroflot suspended all flights from the kingdom until May 23.

On Thursday, February 24, Rosaviatsia announced the suspension of 11 airports in the South of Russia in the cities of Gelendzhik, Simferopol, Elista, Anapa (Vityazevo), Krasnodar (Pashkovsky), Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk (Vostochny), Voronezh (Chertovitskoye), Rostov- on-Don (Platov) and Lipetsk.

Also, the authorities of Ukraine and Moldova closed the airspace due to hostilities.

On February 27, France banned flights over its territory for all Russian aircraft. On the same day, the airspace for the Russian Federation was closed by such countries as: Germany, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Austria, Iceland, the Netherlands, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and others.

photo: TASS

       

Rosaviatsia responded by imposing mirror sanctions and restricting flights over Russian territory to airlines from 36 countries, including non-EU ones.

ATOR (Association of Tour Operators) announced the suspension of the sale of tours to the Caribbean and Latin America. A large service for buying air tickets Aviasales reports that in addition to Dubai and Istanbul, it is still possible to fly from Russia to Abu Dhabi, Tunisia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and several other countries. Not by plane, but by bus or train it is still possible to reach Finland, Latvia and Estonia.

Since February 28, the European Union has officially banned the aircraft of Russian carriers from entering the airspace of its member countries.

On March 1, it became known that the United States closed its airspace to Russian airlines. Biden specified that the ban would apply to all aircraft registered in the Russian Federation, including private ones.

Also, according to ATOR, some flights within Russia will be operated on new air routes that go around the territory of Ukraine, so the flight time has increased for some time.

In addition to the cessation of air traffic, about 700 aircraft, which at the moment still make up the Russian civil aviation fleet and are leased from international companies, will become victims of sanctions from the European Union. Also, European-made parts are used to service Boeing aircraft, therefore, these aircraft will also suffer from sanctions. Due to the insufficient number of domestic aircraft, it will be extremely difficult and time-consuming to make up for the losses of the Russian fleet – so far, only the civilian Superjet 100 aircraft is being produced in Russia.

“We will fly”: what does the Russian President think about the situation

On March 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a mini press conference, a meeting with women flight crews of Russian airlines. Before the start of the meeting, Vladimir Vladimirovich got acquainted with the full flight and rescue simulators of the educational complex where the meeting was held.

“…We have always treated aviation with special respect, with special interest, and even more so for women in aviation. In our country, in my opinion, already at the beginning of the last century, the first women appeared in aviation, brilliantly proved themselves during the Great Patriotic War – we know all these famous names of women’s regiments, how they fought, we know – and now they work in all positions: and dispatchers, and engineers, technicians, I repeat once again, flight attendants, pilots…”

photo: smotrim.ru

Among the topics covered, for example, the decision to cancel the introduction of emergency situations and the security of Russian citizens, was the topic about the termination of air traffic and the regime of the closed sky. When asked about the duration of the suspension of flights abroad, the head of state replied thatit depends only on those who do it, and by the way, they do it to their detriment. Vladimir Putin cited the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of such a situation (namely, the closed skies regime), when countries were forced to stop air traffic for the safety of life and health.

Now, countries have closed the sky not to protect themselves from the disease and protect the people from the transfer of covid. In this case,we will have to increase domestic transportation and strive to change the situation”. Also, according to Vladimir Vladimirovich, in this situation there are both minuses and pluses:we will be able to develop our own aviation and build our own ships”.

In general, it became clear that the work ahead will be painstaking, but in this case it would also become an impetus for development and a start to the creation of domestic civil aviation.

At the end of the meeting, the president congratulated the Aeroflot employees on the upcoming March 8 and wished them all the best.

On March 8, the Federal Air Transport Agency called on all Russian airlines to temporarily stop flights abroad (except for Minsk). This is due to the arrests and detentions of aircraft used by our carriers and leased. Flights of Russian airlines within Russia continue without restrictions, the department added.

Also, Rosaviatsia reported that it was working on organizing humanitarian flights to evacuate Russians from countries closed for flights. To do this, they, together with the Russian Foreign Ministry, Rostourism and airlines, collect data and estimate how many citizens will need to be transported to their homeland. According to preliminary estimates, the abrupt cessation of air traffic due to a special operation in Ukraine left about 150,000 Russian tourists abroad.

“We will develop local tourism”. How did people react to the closing of the borders

Of course, the abrupt cessation of air traffic with European countries upset everyone. Dreams of a long-awaited summer vacation, studying abroad and plans for an internship have been shattered, and a certain hostility towards Russians from foreigners that has recently begun cannot but be upset. Thekremlin.ru editor-in-chief Alexandra Bida shared how she views the sanctions imposed: both as an ordinary Russian resident and as a journalist:

“If we talk about how much the closure of borders will affect Russia and its citizens, then I believe that this situation can be viewed from two sides. On the one hand, I don’t think that our country will suffer greatly from these sanctions: we have a large territory and enough resources to ensure and lead a normal life under the conditions of the Iron Curtain. But, on the other hand, the closure of borders will certainly become a problem, because it will affect people’s lives.

It is worth noting that the abrupt cessation of air traffic and sanctions against the Russian Federation may affect not only Russians, but also citizens of other countries, including regions which are closed to us. This is expressed in the fact that most of the economy of many European countries is tourism, and lots of our citizens often go on vacation only abroad. However, not everything is so bad: it can become a kind of impetus for the development of domestic tourism, the start of tourist trips to different parts of Russia. It is understandable: people want to relax, but for now it will be extremely problematic to go abroad. So, we will develop local tourism.

What frustrates me more is that closing the borders will hit young people and the younger generation hard. You see, nowadays many clever young people, and even graduates, face-to-faced a very difficult, but at the same time important choice – the choice of profession and place of study. There are those who planned to go abroad and were sure that they would go to England, the United States or the Czech Republic to study. And there are those who have already studied or trained there, having gone a long way in the form of exams and moving. But now, when the “curtain” fell in an instant, and for some, and for others, this has become a problem.

As for the still rising generation, I want to say the following: they may have to grow up in very difficult conditions, how difficult it is not yet possible to say, but this will become clear fairly quickly. If children have to live in this country under the conditions of the “iron curtain”, then this environment and atmosphere can form them as completely different personalities. For example, before COVID-19, we all lived in close contact with each other, in close contact with Europe and the States, we adopted a lot from there, but now everything has changed dramatically – the current generation will have to create something new and their own, they will begin to create their own culture and set trends. About travel: of course, there were dreams and goals, plans were made, but this situation will teach them, I think, to quickly change their plans, carefully rely on the future, pay less to others and focus more on themselves.”

What will happen to traveling abroad has become clear: now you can find an alternative. But what about those who lost their job or internship abroad?

Anastasia, a student at Moscow State University, a journalist and editor, told us how students go through this difficult period:

“In general, I associate the closure of borders with the Khrushchev’s period. This situation, on the one hand, is like a step back into the past. But on the other hand, the EU measures are understandable, since such sanctions apply not only to tourism and trade.

Russia’s exit from the international market will lead to a global economic crisis for all countries.

The younger generation is now in a situation where there is no choice: the borders and foreign sources of information are closed. I want to note that I recently downloaded a VPN on all devices in order to do my homework in German. We are faced with the fact that many “household” opportunities are being closed. Speaking of global ones, I remember that not so long ago we were sent an invitation to an internship to the course group: we had to write a motivation letter and attach a portfolio, the deadline was February 28th. Unfortunately, a trip to Germany, where they could get international work experience, was canceled for many of us.

I have a friend from Germany, he is an exchange student: now he is stuck in Russia far from home, in a terrible hostel. It happens that the “iron curtain” has a detrimental effect on many areas of life both in our country and the whole world as a whole.”

photo: news-agency @Red spring

Ulyana, a student of NHiGS (the Presidential Academy) and a journalist, also spoke to us about the pros and cons of closing the borders.

“First of all, it is very sad that the entrance to Europe is closed again, although I don’t want to say that it has closed completely, but we will see the result soon enough, travel is not only travel, it is the way you expand your horizons. When you get to another country, even to another city, you understand what kind of culture there is, communicate with other people, visit their historical places and learn everything about this place not only from books or the Internet, but you can experience everything for yourself and continue to use it in their purposes.

It seems to me that we will again be able to notice a trend in how our country will lag behind, roughly speaking, in development. Let’s remember the Iron Curtain era – was there anything good? No, we have lost a lot.

Now there will also be those who will lose, but also those who will earn, because, don’t forget about our mentality: now there are open countries and countries in which they are waiting for us, and from them it is already possible to get to the right point, even considering that you are a citizen of Russia and that such actions are taking place in your country now. Restrictions can be avoided in the same way that they were avoided, for example, last summer when Turkey was closed, but people tried and traveled to other countries during the raging COVID-19.

For example, we can talk not only about travel. Okay, we have closed borders, started having problems with logistics, and the result was the closure of stores like H&M and Zara. But don’t forget that we have young designers – guys who open their own stores, their showrooms, for them this will be an opportunity, a kind of chance, with certain opportunities, but a chance.

If Europe turns out to be closed to us for a long time, then, of course, we will quickly begin to lose ground because it is clear that all trends, new trends and various interesting things come from there. So, we will try to do something of our own, we will try to develop, produce and invent, but I believe that you will not leave for a long time on enthusiasm alone – connection with other countries is very important, this greatly affects development.

And, relying on the knowledge of history, one can understand that most likely we will roll back, not as much as in the USSR, but we will roll back.”