Federal Migration Service (FMS) of Russia in 2015 issued 50% fewer passports than a year earlier, according to data posted on their web site. Over 2015, FMS has issued 3.79 million international passports. At the same time in 2014, the following documents were received by 7.45 million Russians. Thus, for the year the number of issued passports decreased by 49%.

For one year, Russia rose from 49-th to 48-th place in the ranking of visa restrictions (Visa Restriction Index 2016), compiled by Henley & Partners statistical agency. Statistics are kept since 2006. This year, Russians will be able to travel without visas in 105 countries out of 218, while in 2015 the figure was 102.

Italian air carrier Meridiana will resume in summer season the flights from Pulkovo in Naples, and the Belgian Brussels Airlines - to Brussels. Airline Russia will open from St. Petersburg regular flights to the Italian Rimini. "In the upcoming season, flight frequency from Pulkovo airport will be increased to more than ten destinations in Russia and abroad, including Riga, Apatity, Minsk, Kishinev, Simferopol and other cities. In addition, several air carriers are in the process of harmonization of formalities with the aeronautical authorities, and are planning to open flights from Pulkovo to new foreign destinations," a statement of the Northern Capital Gateway (manages Pulkovo airport) said.

Russia’s Crimea welcomed during the New Year holidays 43,000 tourists despite of the electricity deficit at that time, the republic’s minister of resorts and tourism, Sergei Strelbitsky, said on Friday. From November 22, electricity supplies were stooped after an accident at the electricity line from Ukraine. The local authorities say the damage from that blackout is $4.5 million.

Subsidies for air carriers will not be lowered in 2016 and will remain at the last-year level, Russian Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov said on Tuesday. "This is the program for support of tourists and passengers from the Far East. We plan 4.3 bln rubles ($58.6 mln) this year without the decline against the prior year.

The Black Sea resort of Sochi has become the most popular New Year destination for Russians, Deputy Culture Minister Alla Manilova said on Friday. "Sochi is an all-season resort, the demand is unprecedented," Manilova said. "All hotels for the New Year are already booked." According to Manilova, Russians are also interested in other tourist sites, including Siberia, Lake Baikal and Kamchatka peninsula in the Far East. Major travel agencies are now focused on the domestic market, she added. Russians will enjoy long New Year holidays from January 1 to 10.

About 67% of Russians hold the view that the Russian authorities should concentrate efforts on developing domestic tourism rather than on enhancing safety when travelling abroad, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) has said after conducting a survey on the issue. The results of the poll have been published on Wednesday. According to VTsIOM researchers, 29% of those polled hold a different view.

The approval rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin is at the peak level of 87-88% and has remained high for 18 months, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) said. The results of the VTsIOM poll have been presented in TASS on Tuesday. The company’s researchers said that an increase in the president's approval rating had been registered amid developments in Crimea in the spring of 2014.

Russia will not tolerate crimes like the attack on the Russian Su-24 fighter jet shot down by the Turkish Air Force in Syrian skies, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at a meeting with King of Jordan Abdullah II. "I understand each country has its own regional interests, and we have always respected that. But we shall never tolerate crimes like today's one," the president said.

The Kremlin considers it incorrect to talk about any consequences for Russian-Turkish relations after the incident with Russia’s Sukhoi Su-24 warplane, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. "It would be wrong now to give any assessments, assumptions or make any conclusions before we get a full picture," Peskov said in reply to a question about the prospects of relations between Moscow and Ankara.

Russian security service FSB’s conclusion the A321 passenger jet of Russia’s Kogalymavia airlines that was carrying home more than two hundred holidaymakers fell apart in the air over the Sinai Peninsula when a bomb planted on board went off made the federal air transport agency Rosaviatsiya to urge air carriers to tighten security. Polled experts have told TASS this is strongly required in view of the growing activity of the terrorist organization calling itself Islamic State.

Restrictions on trips abroad for Russian nationals are not discussed, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday. As [Deputy Foreign Minister} Oleg Syromolotov said [addressing the Federation Council], the Foreign Ministry is not addressing this issue, and no discussion is under way as to restrictions connected with Russians’ trips abroad," she said. "As for recommendations concerning trips to this or that country, they are posted on the website of the Foreign Ministry and are connected with political situation in certain states," Zakharova added.

No plans for the introduction of Soviet-style 'exit' visas for the Russians going abroad have ever been discussed in Moscow, a high-rank source at the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Friday. "No doubt, members of parliament should voice their opinions on the problems of all sorts but in this case he (the State Duma deputy — TASS) refuted his own words," the source said.

Operations of Boeing 737 aircraft will be continued, Head of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko said Friday. "The meeting attendees were unanimous in saying that currently there are no grounds for decommissioning Boeing 737 aircraft, which are registered in other states in Bermuda, Ireland, and are registered in the public register of aircraft of the Russian Federation. Therefore, operations of Boeing 737 aircraft in Russia will be continued on the same grounds," he said. Neradko said the letter from the Interstate Aviation Committee regarding Boeing 737 was related to Kazan crash though the inquiry into it has not been finished yet.

Mardan Palace Hotel in Antalya, Turkey, which belonged to the former owner of Cherkizovsky market in Moscow Telman Ismailov, on Monday was sold at auction, according to the Turkish edition Hurriyett. A state Halkbank is the only participant of the auction . It proposed for the hotel 360 050 000 lire ($ 127.3 million). Previously, the hotel was estimated at 719 million lira ($ 254.1 million).

Tour operator Natalie Tours sent news release, saying the resumption of cooperation with a Spanish incoming company NT Incoming. Prorogation was about one and a half months. The new cooperation agreement was signed for three years and shall enter into force on 1 November. Natalie Tours and NT Incoming severed relations in early September. The incoming company informed the hoteliers that the contracts concluded between it and the Russian tour operator Natalie Tours, cease to have effect, and NT Incoming will not take on any obligations pursuant to customers or to suppliers.

Icarus airline affiliated with tour operator Pegas Touristik and Katekavia airline affiliated with Anex Tour, joined the campaign to get several routes of Transaero. As reported at the Federal Air Transport Agency, Icarus airline will start to operate regular flights from Moscow to Blagoveshchensk and Magadan, which previously were served as the sole by Transaero. The daughter company of Pegas Touristik will carry passengers to these cities together with VIM avia.

On Tuesday, October 27, the users of the search fengine "Bronni.ru" discovered that the site is not available, the telephones are disabled, and search modules integrated on agencies' web pages are not working. Later, "Bronni.ru" to restore the site and all the services, but the phone is still switched off. Elena Krivykh, who is the General Director of the company since January 2014 according to the registry, commented that she left the position on September 5, but the owners still didn't find the new general director.

Fares from Moscow to the Sheremetyevo airport on the new toll highway M-11 "Moscow - St. Petersburg" for cars will range from 80 to 250 rubles, depending on travel time and the method of payment. Paid mode will be launched on November 16, 2015. "Closed" system of toll collection will allow users to pay at the exit from the highway in accordance with the actual distance (mileage).

The Russian Association of Air Transport Operators (AEVT) predicts the cumulative loss of air carriers of the Russian Federation at the end of this year at the level of 25-30 billion rubles, the head of AEVT Vladimir Tasun told. According to Vladimir Tasun, the industry is in difficult financial situation, since at the end of last year, losses reached 24 billion rubles.

Tour operator Biblio Globus within a week plans to return to its customers, who bought tours with tickets on Transaero, 300 million rubles due to the inability to provide them with transportation, on Tuesday the Managing Director of Biblio Globus Alexander Tugolukov said. "In the next week, we expect to return 300 million rubles. The destinations provided with transportation fo today, Egypt and the Dominican Republic, account for about 80% of all tours sold by the company.

Russia and Ukraine will completely terminate all air connections with each other as of October 25 following Ukraine’s decision to close its airspace to all Russian aircraft, including direct and transit flights. Astonishment and disbelief was the Kremlin’s first reaction. "Judging from experience of the past 20 months, we cannot exclude a hypothetical possibility of such acts of insanity," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Putin’s instruction that Russian government officials should fly domestic airlines if they go on business trips is in line with world practice, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists commenting reports that the head of state had signed a decree obliging officials travelling on business trip to use the services of Russian air companies or the air carriers of countries members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

The commercial director of "Northern Capital Gateway" (VVSS controls "Pulkovo") Eugene Ilyin said to reporters on Friday, that in the coming autumn-winter season the frequency of flights to Frankfurt, Stockholm, Berlin, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich is reduced. "For 8 months of 2015, the number of charter programs from St. Petersburg was reduced by 40%," Eugene Ilin said. The greatest decline in charter traffic of Pulkovo recorded in Greece, Tunisia, Bulgaria, and Thailand.

Cards of Visa international payment system will work normally in Russia after October 1, press service of Visa told TASS on Monday. "We confirm Visa cards in Russia will work in normal way after October 1, 2015," Visa’s representative said. The company sent a notice to banks last week regarding the need to send all Russian transactions for processing directly to the Russia’s National System of Payment Cards (NSPC) and eliminate cases of wrong transmission of Russian transactions to the VisaNet system, Visa said.