The Russian Embassy told about the difficulties in setting up flights to Mongolia

Russia and Mongolia are still unable to agree on the restoration of direct flights between Moscow and Ulaanbaatar because of the risk of secondary sanctions. This was reported to Izvestia by Russian Ambassador Alexey Evsikov.

"Due to objective circumstances, our dialogue is not easy. The Mongolian partners are afraid of falling under the so—called secondary sanctions, since almost the entire civil aviation fleet, capable of long-range flights, remains leased from Western companies, and is also insured by American and European structures affiliated with them," the diplomat said.

Nowadays, tourists most often travel by plane to Ulan-Ude, Krasnoyarsk or Irkutsk, and from these cities they take a bus, train or plane to Ulaanbaatar. The journey from Ulan-Ude to Ulan Bator takes 11 hours, from Irkutsk it takes about 18 hours by bus or about an hour by plane.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Flights-rails: sanctions hinder flights between Moscow and Ulaanbaatar