The European Union closes its airspace to Russian planes, fund weapons supplies to Ukraine and ban pro-Kremlin media outlets, the bloc’s top official announced on Sunday.
“We are shutting down EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference.
Russian planes, including private jets of oligarchs, will “no more be able to land in, take off, or overfly the territory of the EU,” she said.
“For the first time, the EU will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and equipment to a country under attack,” the top EU official said, hailing it as a “watershed moment.”
Von der Leyen said new measures against Moscow will also see a ban on “the Kremlin’s media machine in the EU.”
“The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, and their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war,” she said.
“We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”
Labeling Belarus as “the other aggressor in this war,” she said the EU will target President Alexander Lukashenko’s “regime with a new package of sanctions, hitting their most important sectors.”
“All these measures come on top of the strong package presented yesterday, agreed by our international partners,” she added.
Departure boards at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports showed dozens of cancellations on Sunday, including flights to Paris, Vienna.
French national carrier, Air France on Sunday has announced the suspension of its services to Russia.
In the US, Delta Air Lines said it would suspend a flight booking agreement with Russia’s Aeroflot.
Many Russian flights return back to their original departure points before landing their destinations. The image shows Aeroflot’s Moscow – JFK flight on Sunday returning to Moscow without reaching its destination.
Sources: AA
