Last week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s government said it had banned a number of Russian airlines, Aeroflot and Transaero among them, from entering the country's airspace, effective from October 25 as part of its anti-Russia sanctions.
Following the announcement, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said that two Ukrainian airlines would be affected by Russia's retaliatory measures, as soon as Moscow received official confirmation of Kiev’s decision to close its airspace to Russian commercial airlines flying to Ukraine.
Moscow-Kiev relations deteriorated sharply following Crimea's reunification with Russia in March 2014 and the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis later that year. Kiev accuses Moscow of interfering in its internal affairs, a claim that Russia has repeatedly denied.
