Robert Smyth has tried to bring his family home 13 times from Russia but coronavirus will keep them apart until May

Robert Smyth has missed his three sons’ birthdays, his wedding anniversary and now he won’t be able to spend Christmas with his family, who have been stuck in Russia for most of this year.

His wife and their three sons had flown there to bury the boys’ grandmother in January, and had planned to stay for a few months.

But the day before they boarded a plane to fly home to Australia, as the COVID-19 pandemic started to grip the world and governments shut down travel, their flight was cancelled.

Since then, Mr Smyth has tried to bring his family home 13 times.

Each of the flights have been cancelled or delayed, and at this stage the earliest he will be able to reunite with his boys Laurence, Victor and Alexander and wife Tatiana is May.

“2020’s…