MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will restrict flights to and from Turkey from April 15 to June 1 due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in Turkey, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said on Monday amid growing political tensions between the two countries.
The decision to drastically reduce the number of flights to Turkey, which is heavily dependent on tourism revenue, was announced two days after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Istanbul.
Golikova, who spoke on the TV channel Russia-24, does not mention the politics in the decision to restrict flights to Turkey, a popular destination for millions of Russian tourists.
She said the number of COVID-19 cases has increased in Turkey.
A senior government official said earlier Monday that the daily number of coronavirus infections in Turkey had risen above 50,000, and Erdogan is likely to order a tightening of restrictions this week before the start of the tourism season.
Asked about Russia’s move, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told a news conference that a Russian delegation would soon visit Turkey’s tourist destinations to follow coronavirus controls.
In the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Russia and Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Turkey and other “responsible” countries should not feed what he describes as “belligerent sentiment” in Ukraine.
His remarks followed a news conference on Saturday in which Erdogan, along with Zelenskiy, expressed his willingness to support a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the breakaway region of Moscow’s eastern Ukraine, where tensions have recently flared up.
Golikova said some flights, including two a week to Istanbul, would continue.
Russia will also suspend flights to Tanzania from April 15 to June 1, she added.
Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Gleb Stolyarov Additional Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun in Istanbul Editing by David Evans, Mark Potter and Paul Simao