Tajik authorities organize a special flight to repatriate Tajik students stranded in Russia

Tajikistan’s privately owned air carrier Somon Air is operating the Dushanbe-Moscow-Dushanbe flight today to bring 167 Tajik students and persons who had traveled to Russia on official business.   

In early June, some Russian universities asked foreign students to leave dormitories until June 30.  The Tajik Embassy in Moscow reportedly managed to solve this problem with help from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, and Tajik students now may stay in dormitories until the beginning of academic year.   

Former Minister of Education and Science of Tajikistan Nouriddin Said told reporters last year that “of 30,000 Tajik students studying abroad, nearly 24,000 are studying in the Russian Federation.”   

Besides, Tajik national air carrier Tajik Air will operate a special flight today evening to bring Tajik nationals stranded in Moscow. 

According to the Tajik Embassy in Moscow, passengers on this flight include pregnant women, women with young children, elderly people, sick people and those who had traveled to Russia on official business and had been stranded there due to the coronavirus crisis.  

The plane will not carry passengers from Dushanbe to Moscow, and therefore, the air ticket for this flight costs 36,452 Russia rubles (RR) and children between five and eleven will receive a 50% discount. 

Recalls, flights from and to Tajikistan were suspended on March 20 for the purpose of preventing the spreading of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to the country.

The Russian Federation suspended air services Air service with other countries on March 27.

Since late May, Tajikistan has organized several charter flights to repatriate its nationals who were unable to return home due to Covid19 crisis and closure of airports in both Tajikistan and the Russia.