Putin’s War in Ukraine has ‘Clipped the Wings’ of Russia’s Regional Air Carriers as Far as Foreign Destinations are Concerned, ‘Horizontal Russia’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 27 – Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine and the sanctions it has generated in response has “clipped the wings” of the country’s most important regional air carriers, not only reducing their ability to service local markets but also forcing them to cut back on flights to and from foreign countries, Horizontal Russia says.

            Flights between important cities in Russia outside of Moscow and European, Middle Eastern, and Asian destinations during the 1990s and first decade of this century were one of the most important although frequently the less commented upon consequence of the development of Russia’s regional carriers.

            Now, as the portal documents, as a result of what Putin has done and how the West has responded means that people in these cities can travel to far fewer foreign destinations directly and must go via Moscow, just as in Soviet times (semnasem.org/articles/2025/10/27/vojna-podrezala-krylya-aviakompaniyam).

            The two largest regional carriers still fly to a few foreign destinations, but the number has been much reduced; and it will be very difficult for them to recover those psychologically important routes, far more difficult than rebuilding the local and regional routes within the Russian Federation that were their bread and butter at first.