Turkey hopes to resume flights with Russia by June 1

With a glance towards the falling number of coronavirus infections across the country, Turkey will be ready to resume flights with Russia by June 1, Turkish Ambassador to Russia Mehmet Samsar said.

The task has been set in the country to "shortly normalize the number of COVID-19 cases and the epidemiological situation in Turkey by the upcoming summer season" through vaccination and quarantine measures, the diplomat said. "We are already receiving positive signals in this respect," TASS cited him as saying.

"The number of infections, which stood at 61,400 on April 15, declined to 24,733 on May 3, owing to the rigorous measures that have been taken," Mehmet Samsar said, adding that this figure will decrease further in the coming few weeks.

"In order to resume flights from June 1 and safely receive our Russian friends during the summer season, we continue contacts at the moment with respective Russian agencies at all levels," the ambassador said.

From April 15 through June 1, Russia is limiting regular air service with Turkey due to a new coronavirus outbreak there. The number of flights was reduced to two per week on a mutual basis.