Europe and Canada on Sunday said that they would close their airspace to Russian airlines after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, raising the pressure on the US to do the same.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would shut down its airspace for planes owned, registered or controlled by Russians, “including the private jets of oligarchs.”
Canadian Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra said that his nation was closing its airspace to all Russian planes to hold the nation accountable for an unprovoked attack on its neighbor.
Photo: AFP
The EU action came after many of its member states had said they were barring Russian planes or planned to do so by Sunday night.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo wrote on Twitter that European skies are “open for those who connect people, not for those who seek to brutally aggress.”
A handful of European nations, including Spain, Greece and Turkey, had resisted closing their airspace before Von der Leyen’s announcement.
Robert Mann, an aviation consultant in New York, said the moves by the EU and Canada would put added pressure on the US to also bar Russian flights.
“It is difficult to understand why we are last to move, both operationally and financially,” Mann said.
Transport Canada later said that an Aeroflot flight had breached the prohibition and that it would “not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action and other measures to prevent future violations.”
As more airlines canceled flights in and out of Russia, and more nations blocked Russian airlines, the US embassy in Moscow said Americans there “should consider departing Russia immediately via commercial options still available.”
Russia has responded to the aviation sanctions by banning flights from several European nations.
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