Problems out of thin air: why did the US decide to resume civil flights over Crimea

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates civil air travel, has amended the rules prohibiting flights in certain flight information areas (FIRs) of Simferopol.

This is stated in the message of the department, published on the website of the US Federal Register.

It is also clarified that some of the restrictions for American aviation companies regarding flights over Simferopol will remain.

“While the FAA expects Russia to continue to make illegitimate territorial claims and to support competing air navigation service providers with Ukraine, Ukraine has demonstrated that it remains committed to taking the necessary steps to reduce the remaining flight safety risks in the Simferopol air zone,” the document says. ...

The notice notes that the changes will take effect on October 27 this year.

At the same time, the US Federal Aviation Administration explained that despite the "stabilization" of the situation, flights in the Dnepropetrovsk air zone will continue to be limited.

"In the Dnepropetrovsk FIR, the possibility of an unintentional threat to civil aviation remains, which is associated with the ongoing conflict, including local clashes and the likelihood of larger-scale hostilities in the eastern part of the Dnepropetrovsk FIR," the document emphasizes.

Recall that the order to restrict flights for American airlines over Simferopol was issued by the American department in April 2014 - after Crimea became part of the Russian Federation.

On July 18, 2014, the restriction was extended to the flight information area of ​​Dnepropetrovsk - after the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashed in eastern Ukraine on flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

At this time, in the east of the country, there was an active phase of the armed conflict between the Ukrainian army and the forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

Despite the hostilities, the Ukrainian authorities did not close the airspace over Donbass for passenger aircraft.

As a result of the disaster, all 298 people on board were killed - 283 passengers and 15 crew members.

Among them were citizens of the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and several other countries.

Almost immediately after the tragedy, Western media blamed the unrecognized republics and Russia for the incident.

Several countries, whose nationals were killed in the disaster, have created a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the circumstances of the incident.

It includes representatives from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Malaysia.

In addition, Ukraine was involved in the work of the group.

Russia was not allowed to the investigation.

In May 2018, the investigation team stated that flight MH17 was shot down by a 9M38 missile for the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, which was allegedly delivered to Donbass from the territory of the Russian Federation.

On the fifth anniversary of the tragedy, July 17, 2019, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the JIT investigation from the very beginning was aimed at making Russia exclusively guilty, despite the fact that Moscow interacted with Amsterdam, the Dutch Security Council and the Joint Investigation Group.

On October 15, 2020, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the impossibility of further participation in a consultation group with Australia and the Netherlands on the collapse of MH17 due to their unconstructive position and intention to “continue the vicious path of unilaterally blaming Russia for what happened in the skies over Donbas”.

According to analysts, MH-17 crashed due to the fact that Kiev did not close the airspace in the conflict zone.

At the same time, since then there has been no danger for flights near the Russian Crimea, military expert Yuri Knutov emphasized in an interview with RT.

"The ban on US aviation flights was caused by pressure from Ukraine, which continued to consider Crimea its own and, accordingly, illegal any flights there without the permission of the Ukrainian government," Knutov recalled.

Air control

The notification from the Federal Aviation Administration indicates that the aviation authorities of Ukraine have taken measures that allegedly helped to reduce the risks associated with flight safety, as evidenced by the safe flights of non-US civilian carriers on the Black Sea air routes for more than two years.

“Therefore, according to the Federal Administration, these measures have sufficiently reduced the threat to civil aviation operating on routes in the Black Sea airspace, which allows the resumption of American civil aviation flights on them,” the department noted.

• Simferopol

• RIA News

• © Alexey Pavlishak

In turn, the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the peninsula Ruslan Balbek, commenting on the decision of the American aviation regulator, noted that the safety of flights in the Simferopol zone is the merit, rather, of the Russian authorities, and not of Ukraine.

“Ukrainian bellicose statements about the domination of the Ukrainian Air Force over Crimea gave rise to thought for foreign airlines about the dangers of using the airspace over Crimea.

But seeing that any provocations near the peninsula are strictly suppressed, up to the use of weapons against violators, he convinced everyone that Russia guarantees the safety of flights in its airspace, "RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

According to Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State Pedagogical University, it is difficult to interpret the decision of the American regulator, since "there are no risks of flights in the Simferopol area, as well as over any territory of the Russian Federation."

“There is a large air flow from countries that use Russian airspace for their flights, since this does not imply any risks, because Russia complies with all the norms of international law in this regard.

This decision of the United States has nothing to do with any real processes, since now and in recent years, the airspace over Crimea, Simferopol was absolutely reliable in terms of flight safety, "Shapovalov emphasized in an interview with RT.

Flying over a particular territory assumes responsibility for people's lives, which falls on the countries involved in this process, the expert explained.

“Crimea is the territory of the Russian Federation, therefore, the airspace over the peninsula is under the jurisdiction of Russia, therefore there can be no talk of any cooperation with Ukraine - it simply does not make sense,” the political scientist believes.

In his opinion, in the future, the West will have to recognize that Crimea is a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, and taking this fact into account, regulate its activities, including in the field of civil aviation.

“Sooner or later, the hypocritical policy pursued by the United States and Europe will retreat before the reality in which the peninsula is part of the Russian Federation, this is the expression of the will of the Crimean people.

And the situation there is absolutely stable, it allows for economic contacts, tourist activities, air flights, ”the expert concluded.