MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Krasnodar airport may be reopened, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference. At the same time, he noted that the most important yardstick for reopening airports should be flight safety.

"The Defense Ministry has been given such an instruction: to constantly analyze (the possibility of resuming the work of airports - TASS) and eventually make a decision. If they are coming close to this, they will report to me. Then we will take action. Well, we have to look at this and analyze it again," Putin said.

He added that the airport was far from the zone of combat operations.

The day before the authorities of the Krasnodar Region said that on December 15, the airport would service a test flight. The decision regarding the reopening of the airport will depend on the results. All airlines of the Aeroflot group - the parent company Aeroflot itself, Rossiya and Pobeda, as well as S7 - have displayed interest in flights to and from Krasnodar.

Russia has kept part of its airspace over southern and central areas closed to civil aircraft since February 24, 2022 due to a special military operation in Ukraine. Flights to airports in Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol and Elista are temporarily restricted.