Russia closes airspace to 36 nations
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Russia is closing its airspace to other countries that blocked Russian aircraft from their airspace.
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Aeroflot Russian Airlines (Archive)
Following the EU bloc's decision on prohibiting the Russian planes from using its airspace, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya, announced today, Monday, that Russia has closed its airspace to airlines of 36 countries.
The agency's statement read, "In accordance with the norms of international law, as a response to the ban of European states on flights of civil aircraft operated by Russian air carriers and/or registered in Russia, a restriction on flights of air carriers of 36 states has been introduced."
Flights from the said 36 countries will not be allowed to enter the Russian airspace except with a special permit that Rosaviatsiya or the Russian Foreign Ministry issues.
Rosaviatsiya listed the following countries: Albania, Austria, Anguilla, Belgium, Bulgaria, British Virgin Islands, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Jersey, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Greek Cypriot administration, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Croatia, Czechia, Sweden, Estonia, and Denmark, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Earlier today, Russia had said it will respond reciprocally to air travel bans.
Yesterday, Sunday, the Russian authorities announced the closure of their airspace to airline companies associated or registered in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovenia, in response to similar measures taken by those countries to punish Moscow after the start of its military operation in Ukraine.
On Saturday, Russia restricted flights of the Bulgarian, Polish, and Czech airlines in its airspace after they blocked their airspace to flights by Russian carriers.
Read more: EU, NATO respond to Russian military operation in Donbass
Russia had for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders, and batches of lethal weapons being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees.
After the West did not respond to Russia's demands, and amid Ukrainian shelling on the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, President Vladimir Putin initiated a special military operation in Donbass.
Moscow's operation conducted to prevent NATO from deploying troops along its borders has been met with sanctions from a wide array of Western countries.
The European Union had agreed Friday to freeze European assets linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The European decision was accompanied by a wave of sanctions from the US, Europe, and other Western allies.
