Hundreds of Russians stuck at New York airport: diplomats have no money to help them

At least 250 Russian citizens lost the opportunity to fly from New York to Moscow due to a flight ban imposed by the Russian government. Russian diplomats first suggested that they seek housing in the United States on their own, and then they agreed to settle in a hotel for those who could not find housing and were preparing to stay overnight at the airport. Writes about it with the BBC.

A complete ban on air traffic came into force on April 4. If earlier Russia received at least planes that took out Russians who were stuck there from abroad, now these flights have also been canceled. Among them was the New York-Moscow plane, which, according to diplomats, was supposed to take at least 250 Russians out of the United States.

The Russian consulate in New York informed the citizens of Russia that the diplomatic mission did not have the means to help them, and suggested finding housing in the United States on its own.

At the same time, diplomats promised that the costs could be partially compensated if people who lost the opportunity to fly from New York to Moscow could somehow fill out the appropriate forms on the government services portal.

Russian news agencies reported that some Russians were sheltered by compatriots living in New York.

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Already late in the evening on Friday, April 3, local time, the Russian embassy announced that it would nevertheless resettle those Russians who had remained at the airport to hotels. The embassy noted that we are talking about 51 people. In hotels they can stay until Monday, April 6th.

Russian citizens have been at New York’s Kennedy International Airport for the third day.

"We were assured that the flight will take place"

One of the passengers, Yulia Yanicheva, said that most passengers learned about the flight ban when they arrived at the airport.

“We flew from various cities in the United States - and Aeroflot assured us until the last moment that the flight would still take place,” she says.

According to another passenger, Maxim Orlov, on the morning of April 3 he received an SMS message that the flight was ready for departure, and arrived at the airport, where he learned that the planned flight was canceled.

“Prior to that, the Russian Consulate General accommodated almost 90 passengers in a hotel near the airport, but the next day we were offered to leave, so we had to go to friends in New York,” he said.

According to Yulia Yanicheva, then the hotel for the passengers was paid for by “a certain Russian-speaking businessman”. The Consulate General offered passengers to pay for the bus to the hotel themselves, paying $ 15 per person.

“A taxi to this hotel cost $ 9, so we preferred to take one car for three or four people, rather than pay for this bus,” says Yulia.

Another passenger told RIA Novosti that he received a message about the cancellation of the flight, which was supposed to take off at 19:20 local time, about five hours before departure - at 14:00 local time.

At about 15:00 local time, the Russian Consul General Ovsyannikov arrived at the airport to the passengers gathered there, who suggested that they independently seek housing in New York.

He also said that by filling out the appropriate form on a single portal of public services, all compatriots will be able to receive compensation "for housing and food." As the Consul General emphasized, for this it will be necessary to confirm the fact of expenses by providing a check for payment of the hotel.

Yulia Yanicheva claims that consulate officers threatened passengers to call the police if they did not leave the airport departure lounge.

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“The guards were already approaching us, but they were sympathetic to our situation and did not take any action,” she said. The Russian consulate has not yet commented on this statement.

Why canceled previous flights

Aeroflot explained the cancellation of previous flights by the fact that even before the complete ban on flights, the Russian authorities had imposed significant restrictions on the export of Russians from abroad.

In particular, Sheremetyevo, the only Moscow airport that continues to receive flights with Russians returning from abroad, is allowed to deliver no more than 500 passengers per day.

Transport Minister Yevgeny Dietrich explained that the reason for these restrictions was the need for a thorough medical examination of Russians returning from abroad.

In turn, the Federal Air Transport Agency reported that the first to be exported are those Russians who left abroad this year, and do not live there permanently.

As ForumDaily New York wrote earlier:

• Cancellations of flights from New York to Russia began on March 31, then it was said that all flights scheduled before April 2 were canceled. Passengers of these flights were warned several hours before departure, so many of them were stuck at the airport, as they arrived in the city from other states, planning to leave for their homeland.
• ForumDaily New York talked to the victims. Many of them do not have money to stay in the United States, some expire on an American visa. You can read their story about the situation. here.