Finland and Romania also close airspace to Russia

Finland and Romania join an increasingly long list of countries that are closing their airspace to Russian aircraft due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, is preparing to close its airspace to Russian flights,” Finland’s Transport Minister Timo Harakka wrote on Twitter. It is not yet known from when the measure will apply.

Romania bans all commercial and non-commercial flights, but makes an exception for emergency flights and humanitarian aid.

Previously, many European countries already decided on the same measure, including Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland and Germany. As a result, flights flying west from Russia have to divert far. As a countermeasure, Russia has also closed its airspace to aircraft from many of these countries.

A European Union official said on Sunday that the EU is likely to make a formal decision shortly after most of the EU countries have closed their airspace to Russia.