Tass cited Russia’s deputy transport minister, Alexander Yurchik in an article published on Thursday saying that aviation authorities in Russia and Luxembourg as well as the Luxembourg ambassador to Russia had held intense talks on the connection.

“We worked very fruitfully and made a decision on a mutual possibility to fly from the capital--from Moscow to Luxembourg--and from there to us,” it quoted Yurchik as saying.

The inclusion of St Petersburg would reportedly be included as a “goodwill gesture”. In its story, Tass said there would be up to seven flights per week, carried out by a single operator on each side. Tass further reported airlines willing to operate the route should be ready to start in spring 2019.

On Friday morning, Lux Airport could not confirm the report but told Delano it was investigating.