European countries close airspace to Russian planes

Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark on Sunday announced that they were preparing to close their airspace to Russian planes, as a measure to isolate Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

The moves follow similar closures of airspace by Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Romania to Russia’s aircraft.

Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are also closing their airspace to Russian airliners, while Germany and Iceland said they were preparing to do so.

Denmark is also calling for a cross-EU ban to Russian aircraft. A European Union-wide ban for Russian flights could be part of a fresh package of sanctions on Moscow to be discussed later on Sunday by the bloc’s foreign ministers, an EU official said separately.

In response, Russia has banned airlines from Bulgaria, Poland and Czech Republic from flying to and over its territory in response to similar moves by those countries, the Russian civil aviation authority said on Saturday.

Earlier this week, Russia banned all British airlines from its airspace in retaliation for London’s ban on flights to Britain by Russian flag carrier Aeroflot.