Russia, Ukraine stop direct flights as part of mutual ban
Direct flights between Russia and Ukraine have been cancelled as part of a mutual ban imposed by Kiev and Moscow on each other over the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
The ban, which took effect on Sunday, was announced last month by the Kiev government over Moscow’s alleged support for pro-Russia forces fighting the Ukrainian army in the east.
In September, Kiev said it plans to shut its airspace to 25 Russian airlines within the framework of the government’s sanctions against more than 100 Russian firms.
In response, the Kremlin decided to slap a ban on all Ukrainian air carriers, preventing them from entering Russian skies starting from Sunday. Moscow also described Kiev’s move as “another act of madness.”
The tit-for-tat measure promoted Kiev’s officials to revise the earlier decision, imposing a ban on all Russian flights to Ukraine.
The two sides, however, have voiced willingness to discuss lifting the ban.
On Friday, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky said Kiev and Moscow would continue their talks on the issue.
Pyvovarsky also said that some 650,000 passengers traveled by air between the two countries in the first half of 2015, with Russian airlines carrying two-thirds of them.
The travelers are now forced to take longer and more expensive routes via third countries or take a 13-hour trip by train.
Moscow-Kiev relations have been strained since Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea rejoined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014.
Ties soured further after Ukraine launched military operations in April 2014 to silence pro-Russia forces in the country’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
During peace talks in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk in February, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine reached a deal, dubbed Minsk II, under which Ukraine’s warring sides agreed to a ceasefire, the pullout of heavy weapons, and constitutional reforms in the country by the end of the year.
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