Alaska air. Russian business travel to the United States hits a new high amid Trump‑Putin peace talks

In addition to business trips, there was also an increase in crossings by “transport service personnel.” This refers to air travel (645 people in the third quarter), as the number of people traveling to the U.S. by sea remains consistently low (66 people in the third quarter).

The FSB data suggests that these are direct flights from Russia to the U.S., as the service’s statistics record only the first country of arrival.

Let’s compare it with the data from Indonesia. Direct tourist flights to Bali were canceled at the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020. Then, in 2023, Indonesia reported that Russian tourist traffic had returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, according to FSB data, mass departures of Russians to Indonesia resumed only at the end of 2024, when the flagship airline, Aeroflot, resumed direct flights to Bali. Until then, Russian tourists traveling to Bali via connecting flights were counted as departing to their transit countries, not Indonesia.

Travel was significantly higher before the invasion of Ukraine. In the first two months of 2022 alone, Russians flew to the U.S. almost 18,000 times. This included more than 10,000 private trips, more than 3,000 tourist trips, more than 2,000 trips by transport personnel, and just under 800 business trips.

The surge in direct business visits to the U.S. occurred as Moscow and Washington held negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. These contacts culminated in a personal meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15. It is impossible to conclude from the FSB Border Service data whether all business trips were made by this Russian delegation or not.