News

Air Serbia Increases Flights to Moscow as EU Bars Russian Planes

The mostly state-owned carrier Air Serbia has almost doubled its flights from Belgrade to Moscow, as Serbia remains one of the few European countries not to close its air space to Russian airlines.


An Air Serbia plane takes off from Belgrade in April 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

Air Serbia has increased its number of flights from Belgrade to Moscow for the coming weeks, with one to three direct flights to the Russian capital daily, according to its website.

From next week, Air Serbia is offering 15 direct flights to Moscow, up from eight before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last week.

However, on February 28, Air Serbia notified passengers flying to Moscow or St. Petersburg that changes to aviation routes have been causing longer flight times.

The direct air route from Belgrade to Moscow crosses Ukraine, whose airspace is now being avoided by commercial airlines because of the war.

Passengers can also fly from Belgrade to Moscow via Istanbul on flights jointly operated by Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines.

After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, most Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian individuals, companies and state institutions, and closed their airspace to Russian planes.

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviation, announced on Monday that it has retaliated by closing Russian airspace to planes from 36 countries. This left Serbia as one of the few European countries whose planes are allowed to fly to Russia.

According to data from Flightradar24, a flight-tracking service, in the period from February 23 until Wednesday there were nine Air Serbia flights to Moscow in total.

Serbia has so far refused to join EU sanctions on Russia, despite being a candidate for membership of the bloc, which would involve aligning its foreign policies with those of EU states.

In an address on February 25, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said his government “fully supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine” but will not impose sanctions on Russia.

It remains unclear how Serbia will vote on a resolution condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine at a United Nations General Assembly meeting later on Wednesday.

Serbia maintains strong ties with Russia as well as having a heavy energy reliance on Moscow. Belgrade also sees Moscow’s backing on Kosovo as highly important.

Like Serbia, Russia does not recognise the independence of Kosovo, and Moscow holds the power of veto at the UN Security Council, which it can use to block Kosovo from joining the UN.

Milica Stojanovic