Kremlin: Russia will not reopen its borders this year
The opening of Russia's borders is not expected this year, said Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Rossiya 24 TV channel.
According to her, Russians should not plan any foreign trips for at least the next year. "In recent years, our citizens have been traveling a lot, both abroad and within the country. One year is not a tragedy, is it? No foreign trips should be planned for this year, because not only Russia, but other countries will not fully remove restrictions very soon and allow foreign visitors. Travelling, air communication and so on will not be restored very quickly," Matviyenko said.
The resumption of international air service in Russia is possible not earlier than April 2021, warned the co-owner of Russia's largest private airline S7 Vladislav Filyov. At that point, there will be almost no one to transport Russians abroad: all charter companies will go bankrupt, and only three carriers, Aeroflot, S7, Utair and Ural Airlines have chances to survive, he believes.
To preserve the Russian aviation industry, the authorities need to allocate about $5 billion (350-400 billion rubles), but the probability that these funds will be allocated is "close to zero," Filyov said.