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Russia has banned British airlines including transit flights from landing at its airports.
The restriction is in response to United Kingdom’s (UK) earlier sanctions of which part was to stop Russia’s national airline Aeroflot from landing in Britain.
It follows Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, Aeroflot is an affiliate of the Russian government, hence its counteraction though acting in legally.
“This measure was taken in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Air Services Agreement between Russia and the UK as a response to unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities regarding the restriction on regular flights of aircraft owned, leased or operated by a person associated with Russia or registered in Russia” said Rosaviatsia in a statement.
The air transport agency noted that the decision by the government to place the ban flights from Britain was further necessitated by the failure of Britain to provide a positive response to a consultative meeting the former had proposed for both to amicably solve the differences.
“Yesterday, in accordance with the norms of international law, a proposal to hold consultations was sent to the British Aviation Authorities to discuss the issue of flights between the two countries. This morning, we received a negative response from colleagues from the UK. This is the basis for the adoption by the Russian side of mirror measures in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Air Services between Russia and the United Kingdom in order to comply with the principle of parity and equal rights for airlines” said the
Meanwhile, British Airways has apologised to its customers, indicating that all cancelled services will fully be refunded.
“We apologise for the inconvenience but this is clearly a matter beyond our control,” the airline said.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely” it added.
