About 150 thousand tourists are in the regions of Russia, where the work of airports has been suspended. This was reported in Rostourism on February 25.
So, among 150 thousand people, 25 thousand are organized tourists. Most of the travelers are in the Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory.
“Tourists who are currently vacationing in regions with closed airports and due to return home after March 2 continue their trips as usual. Tourists who were supposed to fly out of regions with closed airports before March 2 can purchase tickets for special additional trains launched by Russian Railways. <...> In addition, several large tour operators have organized bus repatriation flights for their tourists,” the Rostourism said in a statement.
They noted that in regions where the operation of airports has been suspended, there are enough hotels of all star categories to accommodate guests. Rostourism again asked hoteliers to extend the stay without increasing the cost of services and additional payments to tourists who cannot fly.
In addition, the Federal Tourism Agency and the Ministry of Transport are compiling a list of citizens who cannot come to Russia due to the temporary closure of airports. Such travelers are asked to contact the hotline, as well as keep in touch with tour operators and airline representatives.
The day before, the Federal Air Transport Agency announced the suspension until March 2 of the work of 12 airports in the south of the country. We are talking about air harbors in Gelendzhik, Simferopol, Elista, Anapa, Krasnodar, Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don.
The Ministry of Transport promised to quickly take out everyone by rail and bus.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a televised address that a special operation would be carried out in the Donbass in order to protect the civilian population and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. After that, the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of hitting the country’s military infrastructure and introduced martial law throughout the state.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the army did not strike at the cities of Ukraine. They stressed that nothing threatens the civilian population of the country, the military infrastructure is being disabled: military airfields, aviation, air defense facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Later that day, Zelensky announced that Kiev was severing diplomatic relations with Moscow.