By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:

Notwithstanding the negation of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, a direct flight between Ukraine’s breakaway Crimea region and Yerevan was carried out on Nov.16 and this once again shows that Armenia continues supporting separatism.

The first regular flight of the Grozny Avia airline was carried out to Yerevan from the Simferopol Airport on Nov.16. A representative of Crimea’s de facto authorities confirmed that fact. Currently, the online sale of tickets for the Yerevan-Simferopol flight (ZG740) is available on the website of the Grozny Avia airline.

Armenia’s attempts to deny the illegal air traffic with separatists, trying to disguise these direct flights as the flights through Russian Anapa, look especially touching.

“In fact, the Grozny Avia airline conducts flights on the Anapa-Yerevan and Yerevan-Anapa routes,” the Armenian Mediamax agency said, trying to disown the fact of conducting illegal flights.

Even if we assume that the plane lands in an airport in Russia, for example, to refuel, but more exactly to deflect suspicion on violation of international law by Yerevan, does it really change the fact that this flight is in any case carried out from Simferopol to Yerevan?

A notification on the online flight information board of Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport in the Russian search system “Yandex” about the flight arrivals from Simferopol explains everything.

Yerevan’s anxiety is clear and obvious. On one hand, after the illegal secession of Crimea from Ukraine and its joining Russia, Ukraine closed its Crimean airports for flights.

The violation of the entry and exit order in the Crimea and Sevastopol is a criminal act in accordance with the law on the temporarily occupied territories and the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine on March 27, 2014.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommended air carriers to avoid the airspace over the Crimean peninsula by using available alternative routes in April 2014.

On the other hand, Yerevan can hardly refuse Russia in such a small favor, as an indirect recognition of the separatists’ right to implement flights from the airport closed by Ukraine.

The drooping economy of Armenia owes too much to Moscow’s handouts. Considering this, it is better not to refuse anything from the “Big Brother”. So the Armenian officials may be dreaming of canceling direct flights from the separatist region of Ukraine, which will expose the already tarnished international reputation of the Armenian authorities, but in reality it is necessary to take another regular flight from Simferopol.

Elmira Tariverdiyeva is Trend Agency’s staff writer