After abruptly and unexpectedly suspending international air traffic yesterday, hundreds of Americans and thousands of others find themselves trapped in Russia. One asthma-stricken man remains stuck without a visa in Moscow Airport almost out of medication.
Yesterday, April 3, 2020, an Aeroflot flight was supposed to operate to New York to repatriate Russians trapped in the United States. Many Americans had purchased tickets in a last-ditch effort to get home prior to Russia’s borders closing and international airports shutting down.
The flight boarded, pushed back, and taxied to the runway for takeoff. Suddenly, the captain announced that the plane was returning to the gate as ordered by the government and the flight would be cancelled.
Check out the reaction onboard:
Julian Mackay is a Montana-born ballet dancer trying to get home to his dying father.
The flight was cancelled because Russia decided to close its borders to citizens and non-citizens alike, meaning there was no point to a repatriation flight. To make matters worse, The New York Post reports Russian authorities entered the aircraft, confiscated passports, and forbade passengers from retrieving their luggage.
Some remain trapped in Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO). Trenton Thurber, a 26-year-old American man, has been trapped for a week. He suffers from asthmas and tells BuzzFeed he is nearly out of asthma medication. He reached out to the U.S. Embassy for assistance and was told to try to make it to the Finland border and plead for mercy…700 miles away.
Reacting to the unexpected cancellation yesterday, the U.S. Embassy sent the following email to Americans registered in Moscow:
“To those of you who were boarded on that flight today only to have it cancelled moments before takeoff, we understand and share your frustration. We had received confirmation from the Government of the Russian Federation as early as this morning that the flight would go forward as scheduled. Despite those assurances, the Government of the Russian Federation ordered the immediate suspension of all international flights without warning. At this point, we do not believe any international flights will be departing from the Russian Federation until further notice.”
TASS, a state-influenced Russian news agency, reports the next potential flight to New York is not until April 7th. Even that may not operate if the total ban on entry to Russia persists.
CONCLUSION
Imagine boarding a flight, pushing back, leaning back, only to have it cancelled. I hope that everyone trapped in Russia will soon find a way home.
Call me crazy but if I was in a communist country when this started to look sketchy THREE WEEKS ago I would’ve got the hell outta there immediately…. But I guess everyone’s situation is different.
Russia’s government is certainly authoritarian, but it hasn’t been Communist for almost 30 years.
We have all dealt with the silliness of Russian Visas but I can’t believe that a guy with a medical condition is staying in the airport for a week with no options. Russians can be difficult but also very kind hearted – so this seems strange. Strange as well that the U.S. embassy has not worked with local officials to get him a temporary visa so as to find proper accommodations for however long this will be.
While the circumstances are something you wouldn’t wish on anyone, it’s not clear in this write up (or the headlines of the media articles) that Mr. Thurber has lived there since 2018 and has a wife and her family in St Petersburg. This is not a stranded tourist.
The ballet dancer is also living in Russia – part of the ballet company there. Again, not a stranded tourist.
Now think about the Russians stuck here who wanted to be on that return flight as well. Maybe they got their passports back later in the day – any reports on that?
Trump should tweet that unless the HOSTAGES are released, he will begin total and complete thermonuclear war in 36 hours. Believe me. Sad. #PutinLetMyPeopleGo
As a compromise, no need to let them go if Putin gives us 2 million masks and makes 2000 prepaid non-refundable reservations at the Trump International Hotel. #WheresOurMasksAndMoney
To Jimmy’s point, it my understanding from the New York Times that a number of Americans opted to try and return to the US via Moscow because Aeroflot was still operating some flights to places Americans were stuck like the Maldives, Sri Lanka and some others. Its not that the Americans were playing Russian roulette (smile) by staying in Russia, a lot of them were in transit.