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Chechen leader says all restrictions lifted for evacuating Russians from UAE

The flights will be carried out by Aeroflot, Fly, Pobeda, S7 and Ikar

GROZNY, March 27. /TASS/. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has announced that all technical restrictions have been lifted for evacuating Russians stranded in the United Arab Emirates due to the novel coronavirus.

A source close to Russian airlines told TASS earlier that Kadyrov had reached an agreement with the UAE authorities on evacuating 2,000 Russians, who were unable to leave the country.

"The speculation on cancelled permission for flights from the UAE are absolutely groundless. There had been some technical misunderstanding. Over the past day, I have been in touch with the UAE leadership and the Russian embassy. I can say for sure that all obstacles for evacuating Russians stranded in the UAE have been removed," Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, Russia’s Transport Ministry and the Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed that the UAE authorities had issued permission for Russian airlines to perform five flights from Dubai. The flights will be carried out by Aeroflot, Fly, Pobeda, S7 and Ikar.

The airports of Abu Dhabi and Dubai suspended all flights since March 24 as a measure to fight the coronavirus spread. The next day the UAE banned a Pobeda Airlines plane from landing at Dubai Airport though the flight had been authorized and the plane had already taken off. As a result, the plane had to land in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia’s Dagestan region. The UAE also refused to grant other Russian air carriers permission to take Russian nationals home.

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