Turkey called Russia's demands for the need for visas for Turkish airline crews to be illegal.

It should be clarified that at the moment, as noted by the representatives of the Civil Aviation of Turkey, just two Turkish flag carrier temporarily ceased to carry out flights in Russia. We are talking about such airlines as the «Pegasus Airlines» and «Onur Air», who canceled their flights until the middle of next week, officially voicing the fact that due to lack of visas for aircraft crews, flights can not fly in the direction of Russian cities .

International experts partially agree with Turkey’s position that the actions of the authorities of the Russian Federation are illegal, however, in some cases, sovereign states may impose similar requirements on international flight crews, although in fact this is never used in practice.