Aeroflot was scheduled to operate a flight from Moscow to New York JFK on Friday, where it would carry home Americans and bring Russians back to their own country. Full of U.S. citizens desperate to get home in a time of crisis, the plane pushed back and taxied out to the runway only to be ordered back to the gate, the flight cancelled.
Russia closed its borders as the Aeroflot plane prepared to depart. The Russian government then boarded the plane and confiscated passports.