In a video released on Saturday (5) by Russian media, President Vladimir Putin appears in a meeting with at least 16 flight attendants of the airline Aeroflot, for whom he talks about the war in Ukraine, which he called “a special operation”. and not an invasion”.
The meeting, according to local media, took place during a visit to an Aeroflot training center on the outskirts of Moscow. The Russian company announced on Saturday the suspension of international flights from Tuesday (8), amid Western sanctions against Russia.
The decision, according to a statement, was motivated by “new circumstances that hamper flight operations”. In late February, the European Union closed its airspace to Russian planes. Aeroflot will maintain domestic travel and flights to Belarus.
In the conversation with the commissioners, Putin says that “Western sanctions look like a declaration of war” and that “those who are fighting in Ukraine are fighting for the future of our children”.
Rhetoric aside, what most caught the attention of netizens was the dissemination of the image of the president surrounded by the commissioners at a long table and, posing for a photo, flanked by five of them, all young, dressed in bright red and holding a bouquet of flowers.
The proximity and absence of a mask contrast with the social distancing maintained recently by Putin in a meeting with political leaders who refused to test for Covid in Russian laboratories.
The visit to the airline also served as a motto for a wave of jokes on the internet.
“Putin meets with Aeroflot, which is, in effect, a no-fly zone,” says one user, while mocking the fact that the company was affected by the sanctions.
One of the prides of the Russian government, the airline was hit hard by the sanctions, mainly by the cancellation of contracts with leasing companies – which provide the aircraft in a kind of special lease used in the aviation sector.
Access to ticket sales systems has also been cut, and a good part of its most profitable routes has been blocked by countries that oppose Russian military action.
According to analysts, Putin’s visit may have, among other reasons, to “raise morale” in the company.
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