(RoyalPatriot.com )- During his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Biden announced that the US would join the growing number of nations that have banned Russian aircraft from their airspace.
The president said closing US airspace to Russian flights would further isolate the country while “adding additional squeeze on their economy.”
The US now joins Canada and the European Union in closing off airspace to Russian planes. Before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had announced the EU’s move, Germany, Italy, and France had already closed their airspace to Russian aircraft.
In recent days, the US State Department had been encouraging US citizens in Russia to leave immediately while there were still commercial flights out of the country. With Biden’s ban on Russian aircraft, US officials are suggesting Americans could still get out of Russia, possibly by taking a train.
After the president’s announcement Tuesday night, the Federal Aviation Administration released a statement saying its official notice banning Russian aircraft over US airspace would be posted on Wednesday. This ban includes not only passenger flights but cargo and charter flights as well.
The move is the latest in a series of retaliatory measures aimed against Putin for launching his full-scale invasion into Ukraine.
Last week, President Biden announced new sanctions, including against Putin himself, as well as export controls aimed at imposing severe costs to Russia’s economy. The US will also prohibit US dollar transactions with Russia’s central bank as well as block the Russian direct investment fund to prevent Russia from mitigating some of the effects of the sanctions.
But for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, barring Russia from US or EU airspace isn’t enough.
In an exclusive interview on CNN this week, Zelesnky said that he had urged the President to use his State of the Union speech to deliver a strong and “useful” message about the Russian invasion.
Zelensky is calling on the US and NATO to either send troops to Ukraine to fight or establish a no-fly zone over his country.
