The EU has imposed a flight ban on Russian planes, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced.
“We are shutting down EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft,” she said.
All such planes, including the private jets of oligarchs, will now be unable to land in, take off from or fly over EU nations, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
Russian planes have also been banned from UK, Canada, Iceland, and Norway airspace.
Ahead of the decision, European countries had been closing their airspace one by one.
Russia has also closed its airspace to 36 countries, in retaliation for the restrictions banning its flights.
The restrictions on flights will require Russian airlines to take circuitous routes, resulting in longer flight times.
