The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, assured this Sunday that the progressive closure of European airspace that the Member States are applying will also affect “the private jets of the oligarchs”, within the framework of a tightening of the measures against the Kremlin that includes also the veto of their media outlets, Russia Today and Sputnik.
“We propose a ban on all Russian-owned airplanes, registered in Russia or under Russian control”said Von der Leyen, in an appearance without questions, accompanied by the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, to explain the tightening of the sanctions that the bloc is finalizing.
The objective is that no aircraft owned by a Russian natural or legal person can “fly over, land or take off” in the territory of the European Union, a veto that will be applied to “the private jets of oligarchs”, as German policy has underlined. A total of 18 European countries have already closed their airspace to Russian aircraft in retaliation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including great powers such as Germany, Italy or France, which have announced this restriction this Sunday.
Belgium, Iceland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Poland and Spain they have also closed their airspacejoining the UK, which announced the move last week.
Von der Leyen has highlighted another “unprecedented step” to veto “the Kremlin media machine”for which the broadcast of Russia Today television and the Sputnik news agency will be prohibited, as well as its subsidiaries, which the EU holds responsible for contributing to disinformation by spreading “lies to justify Putin’s war”.
We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation for Europe“, has pointed out the head of the Community Executive, who has confirmed that more sanctioning measures are being prepared against the Belarusian regime of Lukashenko for its help to Moscow.
Source: Lasexta
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