Russia Bans UK Flights in Response to British Ban on Aeroflot

Russia's civil aviation authority banned UK flights, on Friday, to and over Russia in retaliation for British ban on Aeroflot.

The regulator noted that the measure was taken in response to the “unfriendly decisions” by the British authorities who banned flights to the UK by Russia’s flag carrier as part of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace stated that it was a retaliation to Britain’s decision to ban Aeroflot flights from UK airports.

“That’s their tit-for-tat response,” Wallace told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

In the same vein, British Airways has said it is now avoiding Russian airspace for overflights and cancelled its flight to Moscow on Friday.

Luis Gallego, CEO of British Airways owner, IAG, said: “Following the UK government decision to ban Aeroflot from landing in the UK, we have taken the decision not use Russian airspace for overflights.

“We are avoiding Russian airspace for the time being. The impact for us is not huge because right now we are only flying to a small number of destinations in Asia and we can reroute our flights.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned Russian actions in Ukraine, calling President Vladimir Putin a “dictator”.

Johnson accused Putin of authorising “a tidal wave of violence against a fellow Slavic people”. He also vowed Russia will never “subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians and their passionate belief that their country should be free”.

The United Kingdom revealed that it is going to impose its “largest-ever” set of economic sanctions on Russia, including pushing to end Russia’s use of the Swift international payment systems, freezing assets of all major Russian banks, limiting cash held by Russian nationals in the UK banks and sanctioning more than 100 inpiduals and entities.