Russia-Ukraine crisis: Biden closes US airspace for Russian planes

Europe, News, US March 2, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

United States joins EU and Canada in banning Russian flights from its airspace

President Joe Biden announced that the United States is banning Russian flights from its airspace in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.

The announcement came during President Biden’s first State of the Union address to the U.S. lawmakers and his cabinet members on March 1.

While he talked about several internal issues related to the U.S. economy, the main focus of Biden’s speech remained on the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

Biden stated that the United States would join the growing number of western countries and ban Russian aircraft from using its airspace. “Tonight I’m announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia and adding additional squeeze on their economy,” he said.

^{President Biden announced that the United States would now ban Russian aircraft from using its airspace. (Image Credit: AP)}

The action follows similar moves by European Union and Canada. European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier announced that the entire EU has unanimously decided to close its airspace for Russian aircraft. Several EU countries including Germany, France and Italy had already closed their airspace for Russia even before the decision was replicated for all European Union member states.

The U.S. State Department had been encouraging its citizens to leave Ukraine immediately while there were still commercial flights operating in the region. Now with the rising tension and airspace being restricted, there would be a lot of disruption in the flight operations. This would severely affect the evacuation process for those stuck in the region.

Following President Biden’s announcement, United States Federal Aviation Administration released its official notification on banning all Russian aircraft including commercial passenger as well as cargo flights from using the U.S. airspace.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated that “The United States stands with our allies across the world in responding to Putin’s unprovoked aggression against the people of Ukraine,”.

The White House has been actively participating in the ongoing spree of sanctions on Russia by the Western countries. Biden Administration announced its harsh sanction on Russia including President Putin.

Referring to the ‘economic punishment’ during his speech, Biden stated that “Putin is now isolated from the world more than he has ever been, he has no idea what’s coming.”

In a statement from the Ukrainian President Zelensky that came after Biden’s speech, he stated that he has been urging the U.S. President to deliver and strong and useful message to Russia about the consequences that await due to this unjustified invasion.