We've booked our first trip to Russia, and we need to go to Volgograd to begin with (there's a good reason ). Hope some experienced Russian travelers can give us some advice.

1. We land at LHR. As far as I can see, our options are to fly direct to DME on BA, and then make our way to SVO-2 (is this right?) to get a domestic flight to Volgograd OR

We fly some other airline that lands at SVO-1. Are there any direct flights? All the airlines I've checked fly via a city in their home country, making the trip much longer than the BA one.

2. The BA flight we've looked at arrives at DME at 04:55 and there is an Aeroflot flight leaving SVO for VOG at 09:10. Is this sort of connection plausible i.e. clear customs and go DME-SVO in that time?

3. Are there any (decent) airlines that operate from an international destination direct to Volgograd? Trying to avoid Russian airlines!

4. Is Aeroflot decent? (and safe!) Do they operate new Airbus/Boeing metal?

Thanks for any help!