Russia-Ukraine crisis: UK slaps more curbs on Russian aircraft

Private jets with links to Russian individuals, and arriving or departing from the UK will be impounded under new rules announced by the Boris Johnson government on Wednesday, as demands grow that the UK should impose more sanctions and welcome more Ukrainian refugees.

The ban includes any aircraft owned, operated or chartered by anyone connected with Russia or designated individuals or entities, and will include the power to detain any aircraft owned by persons connected with Russia, officials said.

The new measures include powers to detain Russian aircraft and remove aircraft belonging to designated individuals and entities from the UK register; ban on the export of aviation and space-related goods and technology, including technical assistance; and a further ban on UK companies providing insurance and re-insurance services in relation to these goods and technology.

The new suite of aviation sanctions announced by Foreign secretary Liz Truss enables the government to detain any Russian aircraft in the UK. The measures also strengthen the current overflight and landing ban on Russian aircraft, laying new legislation to make it a criminal offence for any Russian aircraft to fly or land in the UK.

The new powers will also allow the government to remove aircraft belonging to designated Russian individuals and entities from the UK aircraft register. Several Russian oligarchs are the subject of sanctions imposed by the Johnson government.

Truss said: “Banning Russian flagged planes from the UK and making it a criminal offence to fly them will inflict more economic pain on Russia and those close to the Kremlin. We will continue to support Ukraine diplomatically, economically and defensively in the face of Putin’s attack, and work to isolate Russia on the international stage”.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps added: “Putin must fail and so we were one of the first countries to ban Russian aircraft and today we are going even further by making it a criminal offence for Russian aircraft to operate in UK airspace. We will always work to deny Putin and his cronies the right to continue as normal while innocent Ukrainians suffer”.

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Meanwhile, pressure was growing on the Home Office to do more to facilitate visa paperwork for Ukrainian refugees. A new visa scheme to allow UK-based individuals and communities to sponsor refugees is expected to be announced shortly.

The refugees with family members already in the UK are among those entitled to move to the country, with ministers expecting nearly 200,000 individuals arriving through this route. Reports say the need to carry out security checks has been delaying processing of refugees, with visas granted so far numbering in the hundreds.

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