Russia closes its airspace to planes from 3 European countries
On Saturday, Russia announced the closure of its airspace to flights from Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic, after a similar decision taken by Warsaw, Prague and Sofia against Russian airlines.
The Russian aviation regulator said "due to the unfriendly decisions of the Bulgarian, Polish and Czech air authorities" Russia is closing its airspace to "airlines coming from these countries and/or registered there, starting from 15.00 Moscow time (12.00 GMT) on February 26, 2022." .
However, exceptions are possible if a special permit is issued by the regulatory body or by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
On Friday, Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria announced the closure of their airspace to Russian airlines, following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Also, the Polish national airline announced the suspension of its flights to Moscow and Saint Petersburg on Friday afternoon.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced Saturday on Twitter that her country would close its airspace to Russian airlines.
"We call on all EU member states to do so," she added.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa quoted his Estonian counterpart's tweet, stressing that Slovenia would implement the same procedure.
Latvian Transport Minister Thales Linkites noted on Twitter that his country intends to "close its airspace to airlines registered in Russia for commercial flights," adding that this decision will be officially approved during the next session of the Council of Ministers.
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