Civilian aircraft will be barred from flying below 5,100 meters (16,700 feet) in the Moscow air zone starting in early June, according to the Telegram channel of the Interregional Public Organization of Pilots and Aircraft Owners (AOPA).
The ban stretches west to the border with Belarus, north to the border with the St. Petersburg flight zone, east to the borders with the Yekaterinburg and Samara zones, and south to the border with the zone where flights have been banned since the start of the full-scale war.
Scheduled and charter flights are exempt, as are medical and evacuation flights and aircraft conducting aerial chemical operations, pipeline and power line monitoring, and aviation work under government contracts.
It is unclear how long the ban will remain in effect. NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) are expected to be published shortly.
Since the start of the full-scale war in 2022, eight airports in southern Russia have been indefinitely closed (Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol). The remaining airports, including four in Moscow and St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo, are periodically forced to suspend operations due to constant Ukrainian drone attacks.
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