Russia considers flight ban

Responding to economic sanctions imposed this week, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the country is considering banning Western flights over its airspace in Siberia.

According to several reports, Medvedev said Thursday that Russia may prevent European and North American airlines from flying over the country, which would result in carriers re-routing flights that would have normally traversed Russian airspace. Russia has already banned transit flights over the country by Ukrainian airlines.

Medvedev’s statement came as Russia imposed a one-year ban on agricultural imports from several Western countries (including Canada), in response to sanctions imposed over Russia’s role in escalating tensions in Ukraine.

A report by the BBC said that should Russia move ahead with the flight ban, Delta Airlines is already preparing to re-route its flights from the U.S. to Asia, the first carrier to publicly announce such a plan.

PHOTO: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev