These decisions were taken in retaliation for Thursday's invasion of Ukraine by Moscow, which triggered a series of Western sanctions against Russian power.

On Sunday, the German Transport Ministry "declared a flight ban for Russian aircraft and aircraft operators in German airspace" from 2:00 p.m. GMT.

Berlin clarified that this ban was valid for three months but did not concern any humanitarian flights.

Same decision from Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.

"In Europe, the sky is open (...) to those who connect people, not to those who commit brutal aggression", justified Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Twitter.

"There is no place in Dutch airspace for a regime that applies unnecessary and brutal violence," said Dutch Infrastructure Minister Mark Harbers.

The government of Luxembourg, a major platform for cargo planes and the transport of freight in Europe, also announced, in a press release, “to prepare the necessary notifications to close” its airspace to Russian companies as of Sunday.

In Northern Europe, Finland, which has a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with its Russian neighbor, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland announced similar measures on Sunday.

These countries join in particular Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Bulgaria, Moldova and the United Kingdom.

British Airways planes at London Heathrow airport on March 16, 2020 Adrian DENNIS AFP/Archives

Detours

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.

On the other hand, France continues for the time being to study "the principle of closing its airspace", the Ministry of Transport told AFP on Sunday.

The French Minister in charge of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, calls "for rapid European coordination on the subject", while discussions are underway between EU countries, the same source said.

At Sunday's meeting of European Union foreign ministers, "we will push for an EU-wide shutdown," Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said on Twitter.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine "must be countered by the strongest possible international sanctions", he called.

"We want this (the closure of airspace, editor's note) to be done as quickly as possible, and the best and fastest way would be if it were done at European level", estimated for his part the Swedish Minister of Affairs. European Hans Dahlgren at the TT agency.

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.

In unison with a growing number of Western companies, Lufthansa - the leading European group with the brands Lufthansa, Condor, Swiss, Brussel Airlines - has already decided on Saturday to suspend its flights to and over Russia for a week, saying they anticipate retaliatory measures from Moscow.

© 2022 AFP