On 25 February 2022, Dmitry Medvedev, the ex-President of Russia and now the Deputy Chairman of the Russia’s Security Council, announced that in response to Western sanctions Russia may start seizing funds of foreign companies and individuals and nationalize assets of Western companies. These measures may be introduced against nationals and companies of any foreign state which starts confiscating and seizing money and other property of Russians located on its territory.
Over the last three days Russia has closed its airspace to planes from several EU countries. Flights from airlines in the UK, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia have been banned from entering Russian airspace (including transit flights). The same restriction has been imposed on flights of Bulgarian, Polish, Czech and Romanian airlines to Russia, although some flights from these countries can be carried out under a special permit issued by the Federal Air Transport Agency or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
It is expected that Russia will restrict access to airlines from all EU Member States following the EU announcement that Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircrafts cannot land on the EU or use its airspace.
