I agree, Istanbul seems to be the preferred path, but my wife also recently flew through Dubai, and I believe Qatar also has flights into and out of Russia. A flight between Detroit and Istanbul was recently launched, so if we or she goes this year, it will most likely be that route. I am not sure if Aeroflot is flying to any foreign airports at this time (maybe China), but we were able to schedule a trip from Miami to Novosibirsk via Emirates website (Flydubai between Dubai and Novosibirsk). For internal Russian flights, my wife had her cousin book the tickets via S7.