BERLIN (Reuters) -The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a new alert on Thursday warning non-European carriers not to fly within western Russia airspace due to the risk of being unintentionally targeted by its air-defence systems.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, denounced the alert as a new imposition of sanctions on Russian companies and an attempt to allow Western airlines to win back lost markets.
EASA said the crash last month in Kazakhstan of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, after Russian air defences fired against Ukrainian drones, demonstrated the high risk at play. At least 38 people died in the crash.
“The ongoing conflict following the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses the risk of civil aircraft being unintentionally targeted in the airspace of the Russian Federation due to possible civil-military coordination deficiencies, and the potential for misidentification,” EASA said.
“EASA recommends not to operate within the affected airspace of the Russian Federation located west of longitude 60° East at all altitudes and flight levels.”
The warning was for third-country operators authorised by EASA, given that Russian airspace has been closed to European Union airlines since the bloc imposed Ukraine-related sanctions targeting Russia’s aviation sector.
A statement issued on Friday by Rosaviatsiya said air safety was its highest priority and the recommendation was unwarranted.
“This recommendation is nothing more than a continuation of the policy of sanctions by Western countries on the Russian Federation’s aviation industry,” it wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
EASA, it said, was trying to secure a reduction in the number of flights by Asian carriers to EU destinations using the Trans-Siberian route.
“EASA, through this recommendation, is simply trying to recover its lost competitive advantage for its companies,” it said.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation told Reuters last month that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot down the airliner. Passengers said they heard a loud bang outside the plane.
President Vladimir Putin apologised to Azerbaijan’s leader for what the Kremlin called a “tragic incident” although the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, noting only that a criminal case had been opened.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh in Berlin; Editing by Rod Nickel, Ron Popeski and Matthew Lewis)
