Moscow: Russian airlines are being forced to take a roundabout route to and from its Kaliningrad enclave on the Baltic Sea as European Union nations shut their airspace to Russia’s aircraft.
Kaliningrad, a 15,000 sq km (9,320 sq miles) piece of land that belongs to Russia, is located 300 km west of the mainland and is sandwiched between the Baltic and EU member states Lithuania and Poland.
Instead of flying directly over Latvia and Lithuania, Russian planes are now forced to fly north towards St Petersburg then around the Baltic coast, the BBC reported on Monday.
Canada has become the latest country, alongside EU nations and Britain, to ban Russian planes from its airspace.
In a retaliatory move, Russia’s national airline Aeroflot has said it is cancelling all flights to European destinations.
