"On June 3, the Ambassador of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation, J.A. Liyanage, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry," the ministry said.
The head of the diplomatic mission received a protest in connection with the groundless decision of the judicial authorities of Sri Lanka to seize an Aeroflot scheduled flight to Moscow on June 2 at the Bandaranaike International Airport, it said.
"We called on the Sri Lankan side to resolve this problem in a short time in order to avoid its negative impact on traditionally friendly bilateral relations," the ministry concluded.
Meanwhile, Aeroflot has announced that it will be suspending commercial flights to Sri Lanka for the time being.
"Aeroflot is suspending commercial flights to Colombo (Sri Lanka) for the near future due to the unreliability of the situation in terms of ensuring unhindered flights of the airline's aircraft to Sri Lanka. Ticket sales for flights to Colombo are temporarily closed," the company said in a statement. "Aeroflot passengers who are in Colombo (Sri Lanka) and have tickets for return flights to Moscow SU289 dated June 2, June 4 and June 5 will be delivered to Moscow by SU289 flights departing on June 4 and June 5."
Earlier in the day, Russia’s largest airline stated that the departure of the Colombo-Moscow flight, scheduled for 2 June, was cancelled due to the lack of permission from the Sri Lankan aviation authorities. The plane, an Airbus A330-300, was seized.
"The court hearing on lifting the arrest of the aircraft is scheduled for 8 June 2022", Aeroflot’s press service said.
A Colombo court had issued a verdict on the detention of the Aeroflot plane, which wasn't given a flight permit on Thursday, until 16 June.
The decision was made in connection with a complaint filed by the leasing company Celestial Aviation Trading Limited from Ireland. Aeroflot has 12 Airbus A330 aircraft in its fleet. In May, the company bought eight aircraft from foreign owners.
The wave of EU sanctions against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine banned sales of aircraft and their parts to Russian carriers and obligated European leasing companies to retrieve all leased planes from Russia. A number of countries have closed their airspace to Russian flights and threatened to detain the planes registered and leased abroad.