UK can detain any Russian plane to enter its airspace - Secretary of State for Transport - TASS

The British authorities have been given the opportunity to detain any Russian aircraft that would enter the airspace of the kingdom, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps announced on Tuesday evening.

"I have made it a criminal offence for ANY Russian aircraft to enter UK airspace and now HMG [Her Majesty's Government - TASS] can detain these jets," he wrote on Twitter.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority earlier imposed a ban on Aeroflot flights to the UK.

UK airspace is closed to scheduled flights registered in Russia and owned or operated by or chartered by persons associated with Russia.

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said that such a step violates the provision of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Air Communication between the Russian Federation and the UK.

The Russian agency sent a proposal to London to hold consultations on compliance with flight rules between the two states, but the British side refused. As a result, Russia closed the sky for all British aircraft both for arrival in the country and for transit.

On February 26, Shapps informed that the UK Department for Transport has expanded sanctions against Russia, banning Russian private jets from flying to the United Kingdom after the Russian Federation launched a military operation in Ukraine.