The Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (which were part of the Soviet Union until 1989) decided to close their airspace to Russian airlines, transport officials in the three countries say.
The legal formulation for the measure is underway and it wasn’t immediately clear when precisely the ban would take effect.
Lithuanian Transport Marius Skuodis told media outlets that the goal of the Baltic countries is to issue the ban at the same time.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas tweets that Western nations should isolate Russia both economically and politically after its invasion of Ukraine, saying “there is no place for planes of the aggressor state in democratic skies.”
#Estonia is banning Russian airlines from our airspace. We invite all EU countries to do the same. There is no place for planes of the agressor state in democratic skies. #StandWithUkraine
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) February 26, 2022
Latvian Transport Minister Talis Linkaits tells local news agency LETA that the country’s decision to close its airspace to Russian airlines will be made in coordination with Estonia, Lithuania, and the EU.
Source: The Times of Israel
In other Baltic news, Latvian airline airBaltic announces that due to increased risk and imposed restrictions all its flights to and from Russia are cancelled from February 26 until March 26.
Latest: Now that Poland ?? Estonia ?? Latvia ?? and Lithuania ?? have joined other nations in banning Russia from airspace, here’s the new, longer flight route for Russian jets flying between Moscow–Kaliningrad (the Russian province between Poland and Lithuania) ?? #WarInUkraine pic.twitter.com/BUUAg6cE99
— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) February 26, 2022
