MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Russian air carriers will be able to perform flights to Venezuela with layovers in Cuba, according to a statement released by the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport on Monday.

"The Russian and Venezuelan aviation authorities reached an agreement aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in the area of air service on providing the right to airlines of the two countries to perform flights with the fifth freedom of the air," the statement reads.

Essentially, this means that Russian airlines will be able to carry out flights on the route Moscow - Varadero (Cuba) - Porlamar (Venezuela), while Venezuelan air carriers - along the route Caracas - Havana (Cuba) - Moscow.

The agreement on such flights is valid until the end of the summer season in 2024. During the winter of 2022-2023 flights between Russia and Venezuela were performed by Nordwind and Conviasa.

Commercial rights for performing civil flights are divided into nine degrees of "freedoms of the air," in terms of expansion of air service possibilities for airlines. In particular, the first degree only provides an air carrier to cross the airspace of a foreign country without landing, while the ninth degree grants the right to carry passengers inside a foreign country. The fifth degree is a commercial flight performed by an airline of one foreign country to another with continued flight to its country (for example, the flight by Aeroflot Minsk-Yerevan-Moscow).