Russia closes its airspace for Ukrainian airlines from Oct 25

Russian aviation authorities will notify the Ukrainian carriers of their decision in the near future.

The Russian Federation has responded to Ukraine's move to ban Russian airlines from Ukrainian airspace with retaliatory measures, barring from October 25 the Ukrainian airlines from flying into Russia, according to the Russian Transport Ministry.

"In accordance with the order of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian Ministry of Transport instructed the Federal Air Transport Agency to notify Ukrainian airlines carrying out or intending to carry out flights to the destinations in the Russian Federation, of termination of the use of Russian airspace from October 25," reads the statement on the ministry's website.

Russian aviation authorities will notify the Ukrainian carriers of their decision in the near future, according to a statement.

This is a retaliatory measure, the statement notes, in response to a decision of the Ukrainian Transport Ministry that notified unilaterally a number of Russian air carriers on September 28 that from the beginning of winter navigation, October 25, it would introduce a ban on air travel between Russia and Ukraine."

As UNIAN reported earlier, on September 28, the State Aviation Service of Ukraine sent a warning to the Russian airlines, which fell under sanctions in accordance with the decision of National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, on a ban to fly into Ukraine from October 25, 2015.

Earlier, on September 25, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced that in keeping with the NSDC decisions, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers had decided to toughen anti-Russian sanctions by banning flights carried out by Russian airlines, namely Aeroflot and Transaero. Ukraine also banned transit flights of Russian airlines through Ukrainian airspace if they carried defense goods, duel-purpose equipment, or Russian military personnel.

On September 16, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko enacted a decision taken by the National Security and Defense Council on September 2 to introduce sanctions against about 400 individuals and more than 90 entities from the Russian Federation and other countries, who are involved in the annexation of Crimea and aggression in Donbas.