Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke on Friday of “technical problems” following a recommendation by the EU to avoid the airspace over the former Soviet republic after the forced landing of a European passenger plane in Belarus. “The aviation authorities are working hard these days to get rid of them.” The case has made international headlines since the beginning of the week.
The aviation authority Rosaviazija announced that the approval of other routes is currently taking longer due to many inquiries. Within 24 hours, however, a total of 53 planes could have approached Russia on new routes. Earlier, the EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell had said that he did not know whether these were individual cases or a general new regulation by the Russian authorities to force European planes to fly over Belarus.
The Russian authorities had stated that some of the connections affected were special connections. Germany, which had resumed regular air traffic with Russia, was not affected by the problems.
In response to the forced landing of a Ryanair plane and the arrest of government critic Roman Protassevich, the European Union imposed a new package of sanctions against Belarus. In addition, airlines based in the EU were asked to avoid the airspace there.
As a result, Russia occasionally refused alternative routes to Moscow to European airlines. According to the French airline Air France, a flight from Paris had to be canceled on Friday – as it was on Wednesday. Air France stated that the flight had to be canceled due to a “new authorization from the Russian authorities to enter their territory”. The Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines also had to cancel a flight. On Friday she was able to fly from Vienna to Moscow again.
“The situation is indeed exceptional,” said Kremlin spokesman Peskov, according to the Interfax news agency. But it is a purely technical process. The French pilots union SNPL had previously complained that such requests would normally be accepted immediately. The Moscow daily “Kommersant” reported that the flight cancellations had also caused confusion for Russian airlines.
In Sochi on the Black Sea, the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko met with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Friday. Another topic was the consequences of the sanctions imposed by the EU and the USA, which are causing economic problems for Belarus. Minsk is already in the chalk with Moscow with billions. Regardless of this, Putin had recently repeatedly emphasized that he would continue to support Lukashenko. Belarus is economically dependent on Russia’s drip. It is the third meeting of the two politicians this year. (SDA)