Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe and Canada have announced that they will block their airspace to Russian aircraft.
The European Union would shut off its airspace for planes owned, registered, or controlled by Russians, including “private jets of oligarchs,” according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Omar Alghabra, Canada’s transport minister, said his country was blocking its airspace to all Russian flights to punish Russia for an unprovoked strike on its neighbor.
After many of its member countries indicated they were banning Russian jets or expected to do so by Sunday night, the European Union took action.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Twitter that European skies are “open for those who strive to link people, not for those who seek to divide them.”
On Twitter, Mark Harbers, the Netherlands’ minister of infrastructure and waterworks, said, “There is no room in Dutch airspace for a regime that employs unnecessary and violent violence.”
Before von der Leyen’s declaration, a few European countries, including Spain, Greece, and Turkey, had resisted closing their airspace.
According to Robert Mann, an aviation consultant in New York, the European Union and Canada’s actions will increase pressure on the United States to ban Russian flights as well.
“It’s tough to comprehend why, both operationally and financially, we’re the last to move,” he said.
As more airlines canceled flights into and out of Russia, and more nations imposed sanctions on Russian airlines, the US embassy in Moscow advised Americans in the country to “consider exiting Russia promptly via commercial flight.”
In response to Western aviation restrictions, Russia has banned flights from a number of European countries, including the United Kingdom. S7 Airlines, a Russian airline, has halted operations to Europe.
According to flight-tracking agencies, a Russian national carrier Aeroflot flight from Moscow to New York turned around after crossing over Norway on Sunday afternoon U.S. time. The jet was scheduled to pass over Canada. After European countries began restricting their airspace, other Aeroflot flights took detours.