MINSK, May 27. /TASS/. Russia’s decision to expand transport links with Belarus is not political and depends entirely on the situation with the pandemic, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday. Talking to his Belarusian counterpart Roman Golovchenko, Mishustin assured him that Russia is ready to build up transport links with the republic at the first opportunity.

This is how he reacted to the words of the Belarusian Prime Minister, who suggested that Moscow and Minsk should bring the number of flights between the two countries to the pre-pandemic level, as well as to open new destinations.

According to Golovchenko, this measure would support the Russian Federation and Belarus amid recent European restrictions.

"We are gradually opening air and [other] communications, which are so necessary for our citizens. Of course, this completely depends on the situation related to the pandemic," the Russian Prime Minister assured in response.

As Mishustin stressed, there are not any political motives behind these decisions.

"The first thing we will do is, of course, we will expand our mutual contacts using any means of transport at the earliest opportunity," he said.

On May 24, due to the incident with the Irish Ryanair passenger plane, the EU summit decided to ban Belarusian airlines from flying to airports of EU countries and flying over their territory, and also recommended that European carriers refuse to fly in the airspace of Belarus.