The Russian side will resume flights with Iceland, Malta, Mexico, Portugal and Saudi Arabia from May 25.

The decision was made at a meeting of the operational headquarters to combat the spread of COVID-19, which was held the day before by Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

The Cabinet of Ministers clarified that flights from Moscow to Reykjavik and Valletta will be carried out twice a week, to Cancun, Lisbon and Jeddah - three times a week.

There will also be one weekly flight from Grozny and Makhachkala to Jeddah.

In addition, the government announced an increase on a reciprocal basis in the number of scheduled flights with South Korea, Finland and Japan.

From May 25, the Vladivostok-Seoul flight will be operated three times a week, with one more flight per week departing from Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 

Up to seven flights a week will fly on the routes Moscow - Helsinki and St. Petersburg - Helsinki. 

Also, up to seven weekly flights will take off on the routes Moscow - Tokyo and Vladivostok - Tokyo, and one flight per week on the route Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - Tokyo.

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In addition, the headquarters announced the resumption from May 25 of flights to foreign countries from the international airports of Omsk, Syktyvkar, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk and Ulan-Ude.

Russia limited international flights with other countries in March last year due to the spread of coronavirus infection.

In the summer of 2020, the restrictions began to be gradually removed. 

At the same time, we are not talking about a full-fledged resumption of tourism, since entry to some countries, according to the Federal Tourism Agency, is possible only with an invitation or a work visa.

At the same time, due to the worsening epidemic situation in a number of countries, the Russian side again suspended flights with Great Britain, Turkey and Tanzania.

Flights are suspended until June 1, 2021.

On May 14, the Greek authorities announced the lifting of the restriction on entry for Russian citizens and tourists from other countries.

According to RIA Novosti with reference to the decision, citizens of countries approved by the Greek authorities can enter Greece by any vehicle through airports and existing ports and checkpoints.

At the same time, they will not have to go through quarantine upon presentation of a vaccination certificate or negative PCR test.

In turn, Prime Minister of Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapic said that the country will open its borders to all tourists from next week. 

Recall that from April 15, all Russian citizens entering the country are required to take a coronavirus test within three days. 

Also, from May 1, all Russian citizens returning to the country from foreign trips are required to take two PCR tests, and not one.

The situation with coronavirus in Russia

Over the past day, 8,790 new cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Russia, most of them in Moscow (3,073) and St. Petersburg (749).

Over the past 24 hours, 9,866 people have recovered in the country, 364 patients have died from complications that developed against the background of COVID-19 and concomitant diseases.

The total number of cases of coronavirus registered in Russia reached 4,931,691, 115,480 people have died since the start of the pandemic, 4,547,500 patients have recovered from the disease.

According to the press service of Rospotrebnadzor, more than 133.1 million laboratory tests for the presence of the virus have already been carried out in the country.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin noted that the situation with the coronavirus in the capital remains stable. 

“We see a small increase, but it is not critical,” he said on the air of the Russia 1 TV channel. 

He also said that about 1.3 million people were vaccinated against coronavirus in Moscow.

According to the mayor, 99% of people vaccinated do not get coronavirus.

In turn, Natalya Pshenichnaya, deputy director of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, commented on the situation with COVID-19 in Russia, noting that "in recent days, there has really been a slight increase in the incidence."

“Such daily fluctuations - now a small rise, then a decrease - are, in principle, natural at the stage of stabilization of the epidemic process, which we are now in,” - quotes her as TASS.