EU expands flight ban over its territory for Russia

The new package of sanctions against Russia, adopted on Monday, 24 June, also includes an expansion of the ban on flights over EU territory.

The Council of the EU noted that the ban on landing on EU territory, taking off from it, and flying over it now also extends to aircraft flying outside the schedule if the place and time of takeoff or landing, for example, during a flight to a holiday destination or a business meeting, are effectively determined by Russian individuals, legal entities, structures, or authorities.

In addition, at the request of authorised authorities in EU countries, operators are required to provide them with information about non-scheduled flights, including details about the owners of the aircraft and possibly their passengers.

The new sanctions package also includes an expansion of the ban on the transportation of goods by road transport on EU territory, including transit shipments, by carriers from the EU, of which 25% of the share belongs to Russian individuals or legal entities.

Additionally, the new EU sanctions include measures against Russian liquefied natural gas. Furthermore, the new package is aimed at tankers that are part of Russia's "shadow fleet" in the oil sector.

As reported earlier, the new EU sanctions package against Russia includes additional tools to combat the circumvention of existing restrictive measures.

The restrictive measures also apply to the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), developed by the Central Bank of Russia as an alternative to the SWIFT system.