Russian airline Aeroflot banned from UK airspace

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having ripple effects across all of Europe, with the UK making a big move against the country’s biggest airline.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused ripple effects across Europe with the UK coming down heavily on the Eastern power’s biggest airline.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today announced Aeroflot would be banned from the UK’s airspace after the country’s military attack on Ukraine.

It came amid a host of new measures were announced by Britain, including the freezing of assets belonging to Russian titans in banking and arms manufacture, which will impact around 100 businesses and individuals.

The UK also added another five individual Russians to its sanctions list, after three were announced on Tuesday.

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Aeroflot has been banned from UK skies. Picture: Valery Sharifulin/TASS

They were Kirill Shamalov, Russia’s youngest billionaire who was previously married to Putin’s daughter; Pyotr Fradkov; Denis Bortnikov; Yury Slyusar; and Elena Georgieva.

“These are people who have international lifestyles,” a British diplomatic source told AFP.

“They come to Harrods to shop, they stay in our best hotels when they like, they send their children to our best public [private] schools, and that is what’s being stopped.

“So these people are essentially persona non grata in every major Western European capital in the world. That really bites.”

Announcing the sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he told parliament that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will never be able to cleanse the blood of Ukraine from his hands”.

“Putin will stand condemned in the eyes of the world and of history,” Mr Johnson said.

“Putin was always determined to attack his neighbour no matter what we did,” he added, calling him a “bloodstained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest”.

The more than 100 Russian entities affected by the assets blockage include VTB, one of Russia’s largest banks, and Rostec, a giant military conglomerate, UK officials said.

Aeroflot is Russia’s biggest airline. Picture: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg News

Britain will legislate to prevent the Russian state and entities from raising money in London, and ban the export of “dual-use” equipment that can have military applications.

It will also legislate to limit how much money Russians can hold in UK bank accounts, although the ceiling has yet to be determined.

Long accused of turning a blind eye to Kremlin-backed money flowing through London, the UK government will accelerate an “Economic Crime Bill”, notably to prise open the real ownership of Russian-held assets.

Following an emergency virtual summit of G7 powers, Mr Johnson confirmed that the allies were looking at cutting Russia off from international trade in dollars, through the Swift payments system.

The Financial Times reported that Germany had baulked at that drastic step, and UK officials conceded that the Swift debate was still in flux.

– with wires