Ryanair have announced today that it is cancelling all flights to Russia in 2018.

The move that will be affecting almost no Irish passengers between June and July next year.

The low-cost airline described the move as “slowing its growth”, saying it will not fly any of its 400-strong fleet between Dublin and any destinations in Russia in order to “eliminate all risk of completely wasting our time.”

Passengers impacted by the suspended routes can choose between watching England play or pretending that the World Cup just isn’t happening. They will also receive a €0 (€0 return) travel voucher which will allow them to not to book a flight to Qatar in 2022.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said: “We sincerely apologise to those customers who have been affected by next summer’s flight cancellations or these sensible schedule changes announced today.”

He added: “We deeply regret any doubt we caused existing customers last week about Ryanair’s reliability, or the risk of further cancellations.

“Therefore we will be announcing a 4 yearly cycle of flight cancellations in sync with FIFA”