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- We went on flights: the Russian Federation and the Dominican Republic have not agreed on direct flights
We went on flights: the Russian Federation and the Dominican Republic have not agreed on direct flights
Russia and the Dominican Republic have not yet been able to agree on the resumption of direct flights in 2026. The republic became the second country with which it was not possible to establish scheduled flights — no specific dates have been set, Dominican Ambassador to Russia Ramon Alejandro Arias Zarzuela told Izvestia. Earlier, Russia failed to resume direct flights to Malaysia, which was planned for the first quarter of 2026. At the same time, the Russian Federation and the Dominican Republic are discussing energy cooperation in the field of renewable energy sources. New projects are currently being evaluated and analyzed by the relevant departments of the two countries, the ambassador added.
Resumption of direct flights from Russia to the Dominican Republic
Russia and the Dominican Republic planned to resume direct flights in the winter of 2025/26. This statement was made by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation in June last year. However, now the launch date of direct flights is in doubt, Dominican Ambassador to Russia Ramon Alejandro Arias Zarzuela told Izvestia.
"At the moment, no specific dates for the resumption of flights have been determined, as this process requires coordination of various technical, operational and regulatory aspects," the diplomat noted.
At the same time, according to him, the parties have not dropped the issue of resuming direct flights and are still working on it.
"As for the possible resumption of direct flights, we inform you that the competent authorities of both countries continue to maintain contacts and work in this direction," the ambassador added. — The parties expressed mutual interest in restoring direct flights, taking into account the significant potential of tourist and economic exchange.
Direct flights between the Russian Federation and the Dominican Republic were suspended in 2022 due to sanctions restrictions imposed against Russian aviation. Modern international tourism is not just a leisure industry, but a sphere closely linked to global political events, Anastasia Gavrilova, a specialist in international relations at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia. According to her, tourism is increasingly acting as an instrument of political influence, especially in cases where income from it plays a significant role in the national economy.
The expert recalled that the Dominican Republic has traditionally been one of the most popular destinations among Russian tourists. Due to the ban on flights over the European Union, the United States and Canada, flights to the republic have become logistically difficult and very expensive. In addition, most of the ground handling and refueling operators at the airports of the Dominican Republic are subsidiaries of European companies or related to them. They are afraid of secondary sanctions from the United States and the EU, so they are not ready to service Russian aircraft, Gavrilova stressed.
In addition, it is possible to arrest the aircraft if the aircraft is associated with a sanctioned person or company. Such an example has already been in the Dominican Republic itself: in 2025, the authorities of the republic, at the request of the United States, seized an airplane that was used by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. The arrest was attributed to violations of American export and sanctions regulations.
Direct flights to Malaysia
Malaysia is another country that has not yet been able to launch direct flights from Russia in 2026. Earlier, the state's ambassador to Russia, Cheong Lung Lai, said that the resumption of flights between the countries was postponed due to the war in Iran.
The optimal aviation route from Russia to Southeast Asia has historically passed through the airspace of Iran, Iraq and the Persian Gulf countries, Gavrilova added. According to her, the main barrier to resuming direct flights here is the lack of commercial benefits. Even with the growing demand for Malaysia (tour operators call it one of the fastest growing Asian countries among Russians), carriers and tour operators doubt that a regular or seasonal direct flight will be able to pay off on an ongoing basis, the expert emphasized.
But it is possible to get from Russia to the Dominican Republic and Malaysia. There are individual tours with transfers in other countries. However, alternative routes significantly increase flight time and require an intermediate landing for refueling. And these are additional costs and the risk of delays, which makes such trips unpredictable and expensive, Gavrilova added.
Many transit routes require the appropriate visas. Such trips are relevant only for a few Russian tourists, mainly for those who already have open visas, a flexible budget and a high motivation to visit a particular destination. In summer, Russians will prefer more familiar and logistically simple routes, where direct flights are either preserved or organized with minimal transfers (neighboring countries, Turkey, Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand, China), the expert concluded.
Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Dominican Republic in the energy sector
Despite the fact that flights from Dominica have not yet been launched, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited the republic for the first time in 2025, called it a promising partner in Latin America. The parties outlined a course towards deepening economic cooperation and establishing ties between the business circles. And now a dialogue is underway on joint projects in the energy sector, Dominican Ambassador to Russia Ramon Alejandro Arias Zarzuela told Izvestia.
"The Dominican Republic is pursuing a policy aimed at diversifying the country's energy matrix, with a special focus on developing renewable energy sources and attracting international partners," the diplomat said. — In this context, a dialogue on energy cooperation is maintained between the Russian Federation and the Dominican Republic.
Currently, "specific actions are at the stage of evaluation and analysis by the competent authorities," he said.
The Dominican Republic is actively diversifying its energy mix and developing renewable energy sources: official and industry sources include goals to increase the share of renewable generation to 30% by 2030, as well as the need for networks, storage devices and sustainability of the energy system. In addition, since 2019, a memorandum of cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy has been in force between Rosatom and the Ministry of Energy and Mining of the Dominican Republic.
The goal set by 2030 looks ambitious, but achievable if technology and external partners are actively involved, Vladislav Airapetov, President and Chairman of the Management Board of MRT Group, told Izvestia. According to him, Russian companies have experience in building and modernizing infrastructure in various climatic conditions, including difficult and remote regions. It can be adapted to the tasks of the Dominican Republic.
For island States, the sustainability of supply is critically important. Here, the Russian Federation is able to offer solutions in the field of distributed generation, energy storage and intelligent grid management. In addition, we can talk not only about construction, but also about service, digital monitoring, generation forecasting and load management. The Russian experience in the digitalization of energy is in demand to increase the efficiency of wind and solar energy facilities, Airapetov said.
The state of the Russian renewable energy industry allows domestic companies to offer a competitive product on the global market, Pavel Maryshev, a member of the expert council at the Russian Gas Society, added. At the same time, prices for Russian products — solar panels, wind turbines, and turbines — are still significantly higher than their foreign counterparts. Therefore, it may not be easy to economically justify purchases from Russian companies, the expert warned.
The Dominican Republic's water resources account for about 5% of the installed generation, although there are many waterways in the country. There is an opportunity to attract Russian engineering, and in the case of small—scale facilities, the purchase of domestic-made generating turbines. Hydropower can act as a balancing parameter for an unstable renewable energy system, the expert noted.
According to him, the main problem of solar and wind generation is the uneven production of electricity. During peak hours, there may not be enough power, which leads to rolling blackouts. During the hours of least demand (at night), wind turbines are being processed, and there is a need to build energy storage systems. Here, Russian companies can share their experience in creating such facilities, concluded Maryshev.
However, again, everything depends on the difficult situation in the international arena. The United States is considered the main trading partner of the Dominican Republic, and the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, is actively strengthening ties with Washington. In particular, in 2025, the country allowed the United States forces to temporarily use its territory for operations against drug cartels in the region.
The dialogue between Russia and the United States has intensified after Donald Trump's return to the White House, but it is too early to talk about a full-fledged normalization of Russian-American relations. Therefore, Washington may not be interested in bringing the Dominican Republic closer to Russia, especially given the fact that Trump, judging by his statements, is trying to turn Latin America exclusively into a zone of his country's interests.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
