EU countries ban Russia from airspace amid Ukraine war
EU countries ban Russia from airspace amid Ukraine war
Several European nations have banned Russia from their airspace, saying they refuse to have “planes of the aggressor state in democratic skies” as the Kremlin continues its barbaric invasion of Ukraine.
Russian planes are barred from the United Kingdom, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia as of Saturday afternoon — and the list is likely to grow longer.
“We’re stepping up our measures against the Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka said Saturday.
“No flights for aggressor planes in the freedom sky,” Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte tweeted, mirroring the statement of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who said “there is no place for planes of the aggressor state in democratic skies.”
The two Baltic countries, along with Latvia, coordinated their announcements of the ban. Lithuania’s ban might prove particularly impactful since flights from Russia to its exclave Kaliningrad tend to go straight through the small country.
Dutch KLM Airlines announced Saturday it was also cancelling all flights to Russia for the next week due to European sanctions and would be directing its pilots to avoid Russian airspace.
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Russia has banned many of the same countries from its airspace in retaliation, including Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and Czech Republic.
“Air carriers of these states and/or registered in them are subject to restrictions on flights to destinations on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the federal air transport agency Rosaviation said in a statement.
Russia already banned all British airlines from its airspace earlier this week after the UK barred Russian airline Aeroflot from entering.
The spat over airspace is one of the many ways EU countries appear to be escalating their response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
With Post wires.
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