Russian Duma presidential plane orbits two-and-a-half hours after denied permission to fly

Sweden and Finland closed the airspace of the Russian Duma on Saturday Vyacheslav Volodinia just as Volodin’s plane was about to enter Swedish airspace, Washington Post (switch to another service)says.

The reason for the closure was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, neither Finland nor Sweden has officially announced the closure of airspace.

Volodin is the EU’s 22.2. published on the sanctions list, as well as 351 other members of the Russian Duma who voted in favor of recognizing the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. However, Volodin has been subject to U.S. sanctions since 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea.

Volodin was on his way from Cuba to Moscow. There were also other members of the Russian Duma on the flight. In the past, the flight route went directly over Norway, Sweden and Finland to Moscow, The Barents Observer (switch to another service)illustrates in his story. The captain of the flight received information about the closure of Swedish airspace during the flight, and had to change the flight route during the trip. According to the newspaper, Finland also refused a permit to fly.

According to the Washington Post, the Telegram reports that the flight traveled to Moscow via northern Norway and travel time was two and a half hours, Volodin said.

Sweden and Finland have not yet officially announced that they will close their airspace to Russian planes. Many other European countries have already done so.

The Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas told Twitter today that Estonia is closing its airspace to Russian planes and urging all EU countries to do the same. Airspace in Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Poland and Romania will also be closed to Russian aircraft.

In Finland, the closure of airspace has not yet been decided, was told on Saturday by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.