Greece Cyprus closes its airspace to Russian Airlines

European Union

Ursula von der Leyen announced the entire EU airspace would be shut to Russian flights, as part of a raft of new sanctions unveiled today.

“We are shutting down the EU airspace for Russians,” the EU president said.

“We’re proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian-registered, and Russian-controlled aircraft.

“These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off, or overfly the territory of the European Union.”

She added that the restrictions will include private jets of Russian oligarchs.

Cyprus

Cyprus’s airspace is now closed to Russian airlines and flights as part of the EU-wide ban announced on Sunday 27 February.

Greece

Greece’s airspace is now closed to Russian airlines and flights as part of the EU-wide ban announced on Sunday 27 February.

Much of Europe has closed its airspace to Russian airlines and flights. EU President Ursula von der Leyen announced a raft of new sanctions, including a ban on Russian flights using EU airspace.

European countries are monitoring their airspace carefully after Ukraine closed its airspace to commercial flights.

Moldova, southwest of Ukraine, has banned commercial flights, while Belarus to the north said civilian planes could no longer fly over part of its territory.

On Friday the UK banned all Russian aircraft from flying in British airspace – and Russia has retaliated.

Several EU countries already prohibited Russian flights from entering their airspace. In response, Russia banned airlines from these countries from entering Russian airspace.