Canada closes airspace to Russia

The announcement followed similar moves by most European countries, led by Britain, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, as the western world has sought to punish Russia for launching Europe’s largest war since the Second World War.

In a tit-for-tat response, Russia has previously banned commercial flights from those countries that have closed their airspace.

While Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot does not fly direct to Canada, it does operate multiple flights per day through Canadian airspace en route to the U.S. and beyond. Experts have said closing Canadian airspace would negatively impact those routes.

The closure of Canadian airspace to Russian aircraft is only the latest in a growing list of sanctions and retaliatory measures launched against Russia since Putin first ordered troops into Ukraine early last week.

The government has so far levelled sanctions against the Russian president along with dozens of other senior political and business leaders, as well as a number of Russian banks and defence firms.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced in a joint statement with U.S. President Joe Biden and several European leaders late Saturday that Canada and its allies were planning to kick some Russian banks out of the international financial system.

Japan announced on Sunday that it would follow suit.

Trudeau, Biden and the other European leaders also committed restricting the Russian central bank from using its international reserves, as they seek to isolate Russia and strangle its ability to pay for its war in Ukraine.

“As Russian forces unleash their assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies,” Trudeau and the others said.

Even as western governments continued to step up their pressure on Russia on Sunday, Canadians were preparing to join counterparts from Europe and elsewhere in expressing their solidarity with Ukraine and anger at Russia.

Protests and rallies were being planned at the Russian Embassy in downtown Ottawa, with similar events planned for Montreal, Toronto and other cities in Canada in which organizers are hoping for thousands of people to turn out.

More than 100 people were on hand to raise the Ukrainian flag and march under a bright blue sky in Charlottetown on Sunday morning, including University of Prince Edward Island adjunct professor Jeffrey Collins.

“I was there with my spouse and child as a concerned citizen and in support of a Ukrainian friend of mine who asked on Facebook that friends show up for support to call for an end to the war and a restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty,” Collins said.

Earlier in the day, approximately 100,000 people turned out in Berlin to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and show solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Police said large crowds had filled the area originally planned for the demonstration, around the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin, and that they were allocating additional space to accommodate the protesters, which included families and children.

People waved yellow and blue Ukrainian flags to show their support. Some carried placards with slogans such as “Hands off Ukraine” and “Putin, go to therapy and leave Ukraine and the world in peace.”

Russians themselves have also taken to the streets again on Sunday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Demonstrators marched in city centers from Moscow to Siberia chanting “No to war.”

Protests against the invasion started on Thursday and have continued for four days in a row, despite police swiftly moving to detain hundreds of people each day.

In St. Petersburg, where dozens gathered in the city center, police in riot gear grabbed protesters and dragged some to police vans, even though the demonstration was peaceful.

According to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests, by Sunday afternoon police detained at least 356 Russians in 32 cities over anti-war demonstrations.

Putin, meanwhile, has ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces put on high alert amid tensions.

The Russian president asserted at a meeting with his top officials on Sunday that leading NATO powers had made “aggressive statements” along with the West imposing hard-hitting financial sanctions against Russia, including the president himself.

The alert means Putin has ordered Russia’s nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch. He told Russia’s defense minister and the chief of the military’s General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2022.

— With files from The Associated Press.

by Canadian Press

Canada closes airspace to Russia

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