From Germany to Sweden, via France and Italy, European countries have decided to close their airspace to Russian companies, in retaliation for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
On Sunday, the German Transport Ministry "declared a flight ban for Russian aircraft and aircraft operators in German airspace" from 2 p.m. GMT.
Berlin clarified that this ban was valid for three months but did not concern any humanitarian flights.
After seeming to hesitate, France also finally announced a similar measure in the middle of the day: “France is closing its airspace to all Russian planes and companies from this (Sunday) evening.
To the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Europe responds with total unity, ”announced Minister Delegate for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, on Twitter.
Same decision by Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Austria and North Macedonia.
“In Europe, the sky is open (…) to those who connect people, not to those who commit brutal aggression”, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo justified on Twitter.
"There is no place in Dutch airspace for a regime that applies unnecessary and brutal violence," said Dutch Infrastructure Minister Mark Harbers.
EU-wide shutdown considered, Russia reacts
In Northern Europe, Finland, which has a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with its Russian neighbor, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland also announced such measures on Sunday.
These countries join in particular Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Bulgaria, Moldova and the United Kingdom.
With many countries having already closed or announced the closure of their airspace, Russian air traffic finds itself facing a very large no-fly zone in Europe, forcing flights to huge detours.
At a scheduled meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Sunday, "we will push for an EU-wide shutdown," Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said on Twitter.
The second largest country on the planet, Canada will also close its airspace “to all Russian aircraft operators,” Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced on Twitter on Sunday.
In retaliation, Moscow has begun to ban the overflight of its territory to planes linked to European countries that have announced such decisions in recent days, such as the United Kingdom, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic.
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