At the extraordinary meeting on Saturday, 26 February 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the proposal of the Ministry of Transport to close Latvian airspace to airlines registered in Russia for commercial flights.
The decision was made in response to Russia’s large-scale military aggression against Ukraine and in view of Russia’s potential future actions that could pose a threat to Latvia and its people.
The airspace will be closed from midnight on 27 February 2022.
To ensure a unified and solidary approach to the management of air traffic in the Baltics, the actions to restrict the flights of the airlines registered in Russia and the time of the restrictions taking effect have been coordinated with the actions of Lithuania and Estonia.
“In this situation, it is impossible to ignore Russia’s aggressive actions, its brutal attacks on Ukraine’s democracy and freedom. The closure of the airspace is one of the elements in the set of restrictions and sanctions against Russia.” Stated Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits.
By way of exception, such a ban shall not apply to aircraft involved in an emergency, participating in search and rescue operations, medical evacuation flights and flights performed for humanitarian reasons and duly coordinated with the competent authorities.
The Ministry of Transport will ensure the supervision of the established flight ban and will inform the Cabinet of Ministers regarding further actions as the situation changes.