MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia restricts flights to and from Turkey from April 15 to June 1 due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in Turkey, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said Monday, amid mounting political tensions between the two countries. .
The decision to drastically reduce the number of flights to Turkey, which relies heavily on tourism revenues, was announced two days after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Istanbul.
Golikova, speaking on the Russia-24 TV channel, did not mention politics in the decision to limit flights to Turkey, a popular destination for millions of Russian tourists.
She said the number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey had risen.
A senior government official said earlier on Monday that the number of daily coronavirus infections in Turkey has risen to over 50,000, and Erdogan is likely to order tightening restrictions this week ahead of the tourist season.
Asked about Russia’s decision, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told a press conference that a Russian delegation would soon visit Turkey’s tourist destinations to observe the coronavirus control measures.
In the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Russia and Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Turkey and other “responsible” countries should not feed what he described as “belligerent sentiment” in Ukraine.
His comments followed a press conference on Saturday in which Erdogan, along with Zelenskiy, expressed his willingness to support a peaceful solution to the conflict in breakaway pro-Moscow eastern regions of Ukraine, where tensions recently flared.
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 Edit by David Evans, Mark Potter and Paul Simao