Russia may restrict trans-Siberian flights for EU airlines

MOSCOW - Russia may impose restrictions or a ban on European airlines using trans-Siberian routes, raising the cost of their flights to Asia in response to the European Union's sanctions over Ukraine, the business daily Vedomosti reported on Tuesday.

Russian low-cost airline Dobrolyot, run by state-controlled Aeroflot, had to suspended all flights last week after its plane lease agreement was cancelled because the EU extended sanctions on the carrier for operating flights to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March.

Possible restrictions on transit flights over Russian territory are being discussed by the foreign and transport ministries, Vedomosti quoted a source as saying.

The ban could not only affect European carriers including Lufthansa, British Airways, and Air France, but also hit back at Aeroflot which gets the overflight fees from the airlines, Vedomosti wrote.

Russia's Transport Ministry and the civil aviation authority declined to comment on the report.

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