Photos: Vacationers enjoy the sights of Russia amid coronavirus pandemic

Muscovites desperate for a summer holiday abroad this year have found a loophole that’s letting them evade Russia’s coronavirus ban on foreign travel. A loophole that involves a 14-hour round trip via Belarus. Travelers are exploiting the soft border between the two former-Soviet neighbors. Russians can drive to Minsk with minimal checks, and once there they can make use of Belarus’s more liberal Covid-19 restrictions. “Since the quarantine, Minsk has become a Casablanca, the main crossroads for Russians who want to leave the country,” said Maxim Valetskiy, a Russian businessman with an Israeli passport and family in London, who has used the detour four times since the Kremlin halted foreign travel at the end of March

Updated on: Jul 14, 2020 12:30 PM IST

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a restorer works inside the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP)

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People walk around the Tsar Bell in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, with the Spasskaya Tower, right, and Senate, left, in the background, Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP)

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People visit Cathedral Square of the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, with the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, left and the Cathedral of the Archangel, right in the background, Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP)

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Russian Federal Guard Service (FSO) officer, center, guards in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, with the Spasskaya Tower in the background, Friday, July 10, 2020. \ (AP)

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Children look at the Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP)

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Visitors wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus walk inside the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 10, 2020. The first Russian monument to become part of UNESCO world heritage 30 years ago, Moscow’s Kremlin Museums struggle to finance restoration works amid coronavirus outbreak and move freeze most of the projects until the next year. Previously the most visited sight in Russia’s capital, with almost 3 million visitors in 2019, Kremlin Museums have seen almost ten-fold decrease of tourists. (AP)

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A woman walks on the Troitsky Bridge in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 10, 2020, with the Troitskaya Tower in the background. The first Russian monument to become part of UNESCO world heritage 30 years ago, Moscow’s Kremlin Museums struggle to finance restoration works amid coronavirus outbreak and move freeze most of the projects until the next year. (AP)

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A tourist boat passes the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 10, 2020, with the Grand Kremlin Palace, center, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, center right, and Vodovzvodnaya Tower, center left in the background. (AP)