"We are locked." What happens to Russian tourists who cannot return home

On the morning of February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a “special military operation”* in Ukraine. After that, many countries closed the airspace for Russian aircraft. As a result, thousands of tourists from Russia are stuck abroad and cannot get home. With them their children, elderly relatives, animals. People end with money, many were left without communication. “Such things” talked with tourists who were in other countries, and found out what was happening to them, and also collected instructions for those who are trying to return home from abroad. * Roskomnadzor obliges the Russian media to call the “special military operation” in Ukraine. Materials in which the conflict is called differently, the department requires to remove the publication.

Passengers at the International Airport in Istanbul Photo: Anna Dare/TASS

Since the beginning of the "special operation" in Ukraine, 40 states have already closed its sky for Russia . Among them are the countries of the European Union, Albania, Norway, Great Britain, Canada. On February 28, Russia imposed mirror sanctions and closed its airspace for airlines of 36 countries. The Federal Air Transport Agency explained that such measures were taken in response to “unfriendly decisions of the aviation authorities” by Europe.

There are up to 25 thousand Russian tourists abroad. Such data with reference to an unnamed source in the industry is given by the association of tour operators. Russians are expected to be taken out within two weeks. According to Rosturism, the most organized groups of tourists are in Egypt. There are also many such groups in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Thailand. In addition, more than 10 thousand people traveling on their own cannot return to the country.

How to return home

Due to the sky closed to Russian aircraft, Russia does not have the opportunity to organize centralized export of tourists, as it was during the air traffic stop at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, in the ladies of Russians from around the world, a Federal Air Transport Agency is engaged in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rosturism. Departments organize special export flights.

Where do they publish information about export flights?

• Data on part of export flights is published on the Rostourism website .
• In the telegram channel of the head of the Rostourism of Zarina Doguzova.
• In the telegram channel and on the official website of Aeroflot .

What to do to include in lists for export flights?

• Register in the mobile application "Foreign Assistant".
• Through the site "Tour Overected" to leave an application for evacuation.
• Fill out a special form on the Public Service portal, in which to indicate information about your whereabouts, the presence of a ticket or a return ticket, to report on family members who also cannot return to Russia.
• Maintain contact with tour operators and airlines, as well as with Russian consulates.

Where else can I report problems with the return to the country?

• In the situation center of the Russian Foreign Ministry by phone +7-495-659-45-45 and e-mail dskc@mid.ru .
• On the hotline of Rosturism-8-800-200-34-11.
• The company "Ural Airlines" asks the customers stuck abroad to send a letter to the email address u6-vozvrat@u6.ru, in the topic of letters to write "Return to the territory of the Russian Federation".

Many tourists were faced with the fact that some of these services and contacts do not work. So, not all Russians can use the portal "State Services".

• “The“ State Services ”website does not open from France.”
• "Yes, and throughout Europe - too."
• "Sri Lanka: It is impossible to go to" State Services "."
• "It's a joke? The portal abroad does not work. ”

Such comments were collected by the tourist portal "Turom". At the correspondent of the TD located in Israel, the service also did not start.

People also complain that the “Foreign Assistant” application, in which it is necessary to register with stuck tourists. In addition, some Russians said that they did not receive a response to messages and calls from the hotelism hotline.

Tourists who could not fly home will organize groups in social networks, where you can also find information. For example, tourists stuck in Thailand created a telegram chat , where they share information and tips with each other.

“We did not fly away. We were deceived "

Due to the “special operation” in Ukraine, the European Union announced the ban on the supply of new aircraft to Russia. Insurance and maintenance of aircraft were also banned. The aircraft in the leasing, Russia should return until March 28 - this is more than half of the entire Russian aviation fleet. In other words, there are fears that the flying vessels will arrest, and there are not enough own aircraft designed for long flights. All this leads to the fact that the process of exporting people is delayed.

The stuck people are settled in temporary hotels - some, according to tourists, have not worked for several years and are already unsuitable for stay. Vyacheslav Rusinov, a resident of St. Petersburg, was moved to such a hotel with his wife and a five-year-old daughter.

According to him, in the rooms of the hotel there is no clean bedding, in the walls of the hole, because of this, it is cold in the room-his daughter fell ill on the first day. The young man said that the hotel is designed for 100 seats and all of them are already filled. People unite and create chats in messengers to get information, but it is not.

“Our tour was bought from the Intourist. On March 13, we had to fly to St. Petersburg Airlines Partner, ”says Vyacheslav. - We saw how other companies take out their tourists, but Intourist did this and did not inform us of anything. We expected that the flight would take place, as the tickets were in hand and there was no other information. The fact that he was canceled was learned only on the day of departure. ”

Due to sanctions, the card for tourists do not work, and visas are expired. Some Russians in Egypt were forced to pay an overdue visa directly at the airport before landing at a export flight, but most of them did not have money left. After the scandal, people were launched on the plane, before taking pictures of their passports. Vyacheslav noted that he managed to pay for mobile Internet, but many other tourists did not have such an opportunity, and they were left without communication.

“Visa and MasterCard are blocked for people, Mir cards do not work in Egypt - it is impossible to withdraw money. Those who have cash are buying some tortillas to eat. We are suppressed "

According to Vyacheslav, the family did not receive any information from the “Intourist”, they have a connection only with the local guide.

“He says that everything is being decided in the Egyptian department, and they, in turn, are shifting responsibility to the Russian office of the company. Everyone is silent. People do not understand when they go back and at whose expense. We are simply locked in these conditions, ”the man noted.

On March 20, Azur Air Azur Air Air Airlines with Egypt . “Such cases” sent a request to the travel company Intourist with a request to comment on the situation. At the time of publication of the material, the editorial office did not receive the answer.

Ticket back for 450 thousand rubles

The Association of Tour Operators, referring to “On Fitial Representatives of Russia in certain regions”, advises tourists to return to Russia independently accessible flights of foreign carriers.

So the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Havana Nana Malaladze recommended . “We recommend that everyone go on their own with independent routes through third countries,” she said. According to her, there are about 300 tourists from Russia in Cuba.

Many do not have the opportunity to fly away by many - ticket prices have risen several times. For example, the cheapest ticket from Havana (Cuba) to Moscow on March 17 cost 158 ​​thousand rubles, from Bangkok (Thailand)-166 thousand, from Colombo (Sri Lanka)-119 thousand. In all cases, the path home with transfers takes from day to two days.

Trevel-blogger from Samara Elena Tretyakova flew to Egypt on February 7 with her parents and daughter. When they found out that the “special operation” began, Elena turned to Azur Air, which they had to fly back. According to the girl, she was replied that the departure would take place, but two days before the flight to e -mail came a letter about his cancellation.

“ Clickavia unexpectedly said that our flight has become non -profit and will work on the export of stuck organized tourists, but we are not one of them,” says Elena. - Our T Uroporetor TUI replied that he could not help. The embassy said: “It is not e -know when there will be evacuation flights, we need to wait. We recommend that you buy tickets through foreign companies.” We would have done it with pleasure, but we have blocked cards, besides, tickets cost 450 thousand per one. It is good that we extended the visas in advance until May 6, because others are asked to pay fines - about 25 thousand rubles per person. ”

Elena found out that on March 15, Aeroflot’s evacuation flight was supposed to take place. According to her, she was able to contact the airline with great difficulty, but it did not work out to fly away. The girl noted that she was asked to name the number of the ticket, then the flight number, while Clickavia sent only a voucher in which there was no electronic ticket number. According to Elena, the tour operator, the airline and the service of buying airlines shifted responsibility to each other.

"Such cases" sent a request to the travel company Fun & Sun, Clickavia service with a request to comment on the situation. At the time of publication of the material, the editorial office did not receive answers.

Updated March 24 at 08:55. Employees of the Clickavia service at the request of the TD correspondent replied that they could not comment on his questions. Fun & Sun also refused to comment and asked to contact the airline.

"No one is worried about the fate of animals"

Some airlines change the burned tickets, but do not take into account the circumstances in which tourists are located. On February 21, Kirill from Krasnodar flew to Thailand with his wife, a child and two small dogs who always travel with them. The family was supposed to fly back on March 15. The flight was canceled.

According to Cyril, the S7 company did not give any answers, except for the standard “they are engaged in your question” and “your application in the queue”. As a result, on March 18, the family was issued by Etihad tickets with a transfer to Abu Dhabi on the 22nd. But according to the ETIHAD rules, registration and design of animals are carried out no later than seven days before departure.

“We wrote and called both airlines, but everywhere we received refusals, no one knew how to help us. That is, no one was worried about the fate of animals. The company that is engaged in the transportation of animals is not working now. Our condition is nervous. Dogs are like children to us, they are a family. ”

On March 22, Cyril and family and animals arrived at the airport "Waiting for a miracle." According to him, the S7 advised "to go on the long and try to resolve the issue on the spot." The TD correspondent is waiting for a message from Cyril about whether they could fly out with the pets. Until the hero of the article has contacted.

“Such cases” sent a request to the airline S7 with a request to comment on the situation. At the time of publication of the material, the editorial office did not receive the answer.

Updated March 24 at 08:55. Cyril contacted the TD correspondent and said that he, together with his family and dogs, was able to return home. The young man asked not to disclose how they managed to deliver the pets.