Ukraine, Russia fail to prevent flight ban
Print Edition
DIRECT flights between Ukraine and Russia were grounded yesterday as mistrust between the ex-Soviet neighbors boiled over into a new trade war that affects thousands of families.
“I never thought it would come to this,” said 30-year-old Muscovite Alexander Mikhaylin after walking off the very last Russian flight into Kiev’s Boryspil airport on Saturday night.
“It will make life more difficult ... These were the cheapest and most convenient tickets,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine share both a long history and fierce animosity sparked by months of winter 2013-14 protests that ousted President Viktor Poroshenko.
Ukraine’s decision to escape Moscow’s orbit set off a bloody chain of events that included Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 18-month eastern separatist conflict that has killed at least 8,000 people.
The flight spat started with Poroshenko’s September 16 announcement that Russian airlines would soon be barred from landing — but not flying over — Ukraine.
Russia denounced the decision as “madness” before taking similar measures this month.
A desperate round of negotiations between the two sides in Brussels on Friday ended without any immediate solution in sight.
Russia said that about 800,000 people flew between the two countries in the first eight months of the year.
Travelers must now look into other less convenient, more expensive options including slow overnight train rides and flights via other countries on relatively good terms with both sides.
Ukrainians could for instance first travel west to Moldova before making the longer flight back across their own country to Russia.
Other options include Belarus — its main airport in Minsk now standing largely empty because of the country’s poor relations with the West — and Georgia.
Travelers could also potentially use the three Baltic countries and their sleek new airports. However, the tiny ex-Soviet nations are members of European Union’s Schengen free travel zone.
People without such a visa are required to stay cooped up in the grim waiting areas because they cannot legally leave the airports.
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