MOSCOW, Janu 9. 2022 (BSS/TASS) - Aeroflot airline announced that it has
stopped selling tickets for flights to Kazakhstan scheduled before January
20.

   Sales of tickets for flights scheduled from Kazakhstan to Russia until
January 21 have also been halted. The carrier also canceled all its own
flights from Moscow to Kazakhstan until January 10, and from Kazakhstan to
Russia until January 11.

   "Aeroflot is in constant operational interaction with the Federal Air
Transport Agency and the Russian Foreign Ministry on the restoration of air
traffic from/to the republic of Kazakhstan, "the company says. Aeroflot began
canceling flights to Kazakhstan from January 5.

   "At the moment, passengers of canceled flights are offered a forced refund
at the place of payment for carriage. Aeroflot also proposes to reschedule
transportations from/to Kazakhstan once, if it covers the period from January
5 to January 20, 2022, to flights under the SU code on the same route and in
the same class of service for any other dates, but within the validity period
of the ticket, without any additional payments," the carrier said.

   Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into
mass riots with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities a
few days later. The ensuing violence left scores of people injured, with
fatalities also being reported. Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart
Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers
have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities
affirm, was restored to all of the country's regions by the morning of
January 7.

   However, the situation remains tense in Almaty. Shootings are still being
reported there, the security forces are conducting a special operation. The
highest terror threat level has been introduced in the region. On January 5,
Tokayev said at a meeting of the Security Council that terrorist groups had
seized the Almaty airport and five planes, including foreign ones. Later, the
airport was freed in a special operation.