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Russia launches monthly direct flights to North Korea amid growing ties
People wait outside Terminal C at the Sheremetyevo international airport outside Moscow, Russia. File image/ Reuters
Russia inaugurated direct commercial flights to North Korea on Sunday, signalling deeper links with its Asian ally that will aid its push in Ukraine.
According to the Sheremetyevo airport's website, the first Moscow-Pyongyang flight operated by Russia's Nordwind Airlines took off at 16:25 GMT.
It is slated to arrive in the North Korean capital around eight hours later.
However, Russia's transport ministry stated that the route will only be serviced once a month at first.
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Tickets for Nordwind Airlines, which used to transport Russians to European vacation spots prior to the EU banning Russian flights, cost 45,000 rubles ($570).
'This is a historical event, strengthening the ties between our nations,' Oleg, a Nordwind employee managing the flight who did not want to give his full name, told AFP at the airport.
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He also declined to say how many passengers were on board.
'For the first time in more than 70 years of diplomatic relations, we are launching direct flights between the capitals of our countries,' Russia's deputy transport minister Vladimir Poteshkin was quoted as saying by the ministry's Telegram account.
Russia's state news agency TASS reported that the first return flight from Pyongyang to Moscow would take place on Tuesday.
Russia and North Korea restored train links on June 17 after suspending them in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
The two countries have been forging closer military bonds in recent years, with Pyongyang supplying troops and weapons for Russia's military operations in Ukraine.
They signed a mutual defence pact last year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea.
North Korea confirmed for the first time in April that it had deployed a contingent of its soldiers to the frontline in Ukraine, alongside Russian troops.
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