On the morning of April 28, the UTair special board delivered 190 Russians to Indonesia’s and Thailand’s Thailand’s Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug who were unable to leave the country due to the spread of the coronavirus. Flight UTA9034 Denpasar - Bangkok - Surgut was organized on behalf of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the government of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

UTair Airlines told RT that five flight crews were sent to Asia to ensure an uninterrupted flight and the speedy return of Russians to their homeland.

“The UTair aircraft spent almost 30 hours in the sky in the most difficult multi-day flight Moscow - Denpasar - Bangkok - Surgut. All compatriots, including residents of Ugra, are safely delivered home, ”commented Andrei Martirosov, CEO of the airline.

On board, arriving in Surgut, were 190 passengers, including seven babies.

Most of the citizens who returned to their homeland on a UTA9034 flight live in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the Tyumen Region and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

According to the deputy governor of Ugra, Andrei Zobnitsev, all arrivals organized a transfer to their places of residence or to special observers, where they will observe a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

“Today at 8:39 (local time. - RT ), the aircraft landed in Surgut, aboard 100 Ugra residents, 50 residents of the Tyumen Region, 20 citizens from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and several other people from other regions of the Russian Federation. We interacted with colleagues from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District and the Tyumen Region, so after landing buses arrived for them, ”explained Zobnitsev.

Departure Organization

As the deputy head of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug told reporters, the export of Ugra from Indonesia and Thailand was carried out according to the rules, slightly different from those previously established by the Federal Air Transport Agency.

“On the export flights of the Federal Air Transport Agency, only those tourists who have entered the host country this year are taken out,” Zobnitsev recalled. “But we did not begin to divide the Ugra into these categories, we took everyone out for free.”

The deputy head of the region also thanked Tatyana Golikova and the employees of the Russian Foreign Ministry for organizing the return of Russians to their homeland, according to him, thanks to their support, they managed to coordinate the special flight route in a short time and expedite the receipt of all necessary permits. 

Zobnitsev mentioned that so far not all Ugra residents have been returned to Russia - as of April 15, 390 people from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug were in 46 foreign countries. 

“The greatest number of them was in Indonesia and Thailand - we solved this problem. Further, Ugra residents will return and are already returning to Russia with the Rosaviatsia export flights. Some of them have already arrived and are being observed in Novosibirsk, some in Yekaterinburg, ”the deputy head of the region explained.

Tests for COVID-19 and Quarantine

At the Surgut airport, all Russians who came to their homeland from Indonesia and Thailand passed sanitary control, but not a single passenger found the signs of COVID-19, Inna Kudryavtseva, deputy head of the Rospotrebnadzor department for Ugra, said. According to her, the sanitary measures carried out after landing, included double thermometry and a medical examination, and the plane was driven off to a sanitary parking lot, where the cabin was completely disinfected.

During a press conference, Kudryavtseva also noted that now citizens of the Russian Federation who have returned from abroad are not subject to mandatory examination for COVID-19 if they do not have symptoms of the disease. Moreover, all those returning from abroad will be under medical control, and in the case of “the slightest manifestation of ill health” they will be tested for coronavirus, Kudryavtseva assured.

“The decree of the chief state sanitary doctor No. 9 of March 30 establishes a list on which citizens arriving from abroad are included only in the context of identifying their symptoms of diseases. In the legal field of today, healthy citizens arriving from abroad are not examined ... There is no legal or practical benefit in conducting studies for coronavirus directly at the airport - until now, all such studies have shown a zero percentage of virus detection immediately after the flight ", - said the deputy head of the regional department of Rospotrebnadzor.

The department also promised to ensure that all arriving Russians comply with the mandatory self-isolation regime. Citizens who are unable to quarantine their homes will be provided with a two-week stay in a special observatory.

“If there are no conditions (to comply with self-isolation. - RT ), for example, a populated apartment or the presence of older family members in the apartment, then such citizens will be isolated in observatories, they will be provided with beds in cities and regions of the Autonomous Okrug,” Kudryavtseva said .

Stuck in Fiji

Initially, an export special flight organized by the authorities of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug suggested a stop in Fiji, but the island’s aviation authorities did not give the Russian board permission to land. 

“Fiji had one step to go. But the Fijians failed, even if they refused to take a foreign aircraft onto their land. But we are not giving up, ”commented the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

According to RT at the Russian Embassy in Australia, there are now 23 Russian citizens in Fiji who want to return to their homeland. Diplomats continue to look for ways to bring Russians home.

“The embassy is in constant contact with them, the Honorary Consul General of Russia in Fiji Div Damodar is connected. We continue to work on options for their repatriation. We hope that this will be possible to implement as soon as possible, as some have health problems, ”RT told the diplomatic mission.

What is happening with Russian citizens in Fiji was told on Instagram by Russian Veronika. According to her, she and her children and a group of 15 Russian tourists cannot leave the island for a month. The cancellation of the flight that would bring these people to Surgut was a “shock” for everyone, the woman claims.

“The plane had already flown from Russia to Bali and was waiting for permission to land in Fiji to pick up the people who got stuck here, then to Bali, then to Thailand and deliver everyone to Russia. Waited two days ... And we waited ... But Fiji refused to land on our rescue flight. To say that I am in shock is to say nothing, ”Veronika writes.

Commenting on the situation with the Russians stuck in Fiji, the deputy governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug Andrey Zobnitsev admitted that the ban of a foreign state on landing is an obstacle because of which the removal of Russian citizens is not yet possible.

“Today, the problem with Fiji will be solved in some other way,” concluded the deputy head of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.