An asymmetric answer: why 600 thousand Russians were deprived of rest in Turkey and Zanzibar

As already reported by Novye Izvestia, Russia is suspending flights with Turkey and Tanzania from April 15 to June 1. This applies to both charter and regular flights, said Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova. According to her words, this decision was made opershtab due to the increasing number of infected with a coronavirus in the country. It is also noted that regular flights between the Russian Federation and Turkey will be limited to two flights per week on a reciprocal basis. According to RIA Novosti, about 30 thousand Russians are currently on vacation in Turkey.

This decision caused a wave of outrage on social media. Bloggers rightly write that, first of all, it will affect both the Russians themselves and the country's tourism business, which, according to experts, will lose at least 400 million euros, and 600 thousand Russians will have to change their vacation plans, and they will not be able to return all the money:

"They hesitated with these political dances! The whole tourist business is again on the ears! Last year we were busy with transfers and adjustments (Fucking cloud of documents)! And here it is again! About 600 thousand Russians have booked tours to Turkey for a total cost of 32 billion rubles. Up to 90% of all tours include charter flights, so the termination of charter services is tantamount to "canceling almost all requests"...

- That is, at first they attracted everyone to Zanzibar, naive people bought expensive tickets, and now there is an unfavorable epidemic situation there (there is no official statistics on the incidence of covid in Tanzania), no one will return tickets to the trash heap and money?

- Now Egypt will trample happiness with our tourists! Of course, they will continue to fly to Turkey, through Belarus, Poland, Finland, Greece, through Cyprus and through Bulgaria ... Whoever wants to will get there. But now it will be very easy for the citizens of the Russian Federation to run into customs inspection with all the preferences. It remains only to find the dust in Turkish strawberries and cherries again. ..

However, analysts see in this decision not the concern of the authorities for the health of the nation, but a political subtext, since it was adopted on the eve of the meeting of Recep Erdogan with Vladimir Zelensky against the background of aggravation in Donbass.

Political scientist Igor Drandin reminds:

“As I predicted, Putin decided to punish the Russians and suspended flights with Turkey. To divert attention from the hysterical reasons for this action, Tanzania also fell under the ban. Officially, of course, it was announced that the case is in the coronavirus and Putin has nothing to do with it. But we understand that the Russians have once again become a victim of Putin's foreign policy whims..."

Network analyst Anatoly Nesmiyan is confident that such a decision was made as a punishment for Turkey for its position on Ukraine:

“We are, of course, talking about expressing dissatisfaction both with the results of the meeting between Zelensky and Erdogan and with Turkey’s direct participation in the preparation of a possible military solution to the Donbass problem.

The practice of asymmetrical responses "downed plane - tomatoes" looks and is ineffective. But for indirect methods, the Kremlin has no intelligence, for direct methods - resources. So answers like this one are a known substance in the hole. Tactical time delay in exchange for a future catastrophe.

But the Kremlin has no other options..."

Social psychologist Aleksey Roshchin also considers this step to be political:

“As a result, tens of thousands of Russians have their holiday plans ruined, many have their money stuck in travel agencies - but who cares? True, there is a humorous aspect of what is happening: since every representative of the "progressive public" is required by Omerta to approve ANY measures if they are "against covid" - they now, with faces twisted with disgust, are forced to approve this decision of Putin, which, in fact, directly directed against Ukraine, as it weakens its ally Turkey. But the progressive public cannot directly support Turkey either - firstly, because of its organic aversion to any Muslim dictatorships, and secondly, because Turkey is nevertheless pushing Ukraine to an aggressive war (by analogy with Karabakh). As a result, we get a gag - and we hear from the progressive flank only some kind of indistinct muttering..."

And the publicist Leonid Lyalin, according to tradition, responded to this event with verses:

"On the day of the anniversary as Gagarin

I circled the ground in a rocket

We were suddenly banned from flights

To Istanbul..."