Good News About The Air Blockade Of Russia

• Anton Pavlushko
• 4.09.2026, 18:10

How the Skies Are Being Closed to Russians.

Starting in 2022, civil airports in the following cities have been closed to Russians: Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, and Rostov-on-Don, as well as all airports in occupied Crimea. Many cities do not have passenger airports, as they were closed in the 1990s or 2000s—these include Smolensk, Ryazan, Tula, Orel, and others.

Thus, with the start of the war, part of Russia’s air service along the border with Ukraine has already been shut down. All air traffic has shifted to rail and road transport. Most flights depart from three Moscow airports, St. Petersburg, and Sochi... It’s quite surprising that this airport, located relatively close to the border, is still operating. Krasnodar is also operating, but with constant interruptions due to drones.

So, it seems that one would need to fly in to bomb Moscow, but the entire Russian air defense system is waiting for drones there. One would also need to fly something cheap and mass-produced, simply to disrupt operations—not necessarily to burn anything down. In other words, it’s logical to expect a lot of videos showing cheap decoy drones heading toward Moscow, scattered across the forests and fields of Russian regions on their way to Moscow’s airports; but, unfortunately, most of the videos show precisely the flights of classic “Lyut” and FP-1/2 drones.

In addition to air traffic, it would also make sense to disrupt the Russian railway system along the border, but so far these have been isolated strikes. Or “strange” strikes like the damaged locomotives in Ilovaisk or Debaltseve, which are relatively close to the front line, yet trains still somehow run there. That’s strange. Not to mention places like Valuyki.

But there is a silver lining in the official statement about the blockade of Russians in the sky. Dozens of foreign airlines fly in Russian airspace—from the sole European operator, Serbia’s Air Serbia, to numerous tourist “operators” that fly Russians to, say, Istanbul, from where they continue on to destinations like Milan and London for their own business.

Each of these foreign airlines is forced to respond in some way to Ukraine’s official statement to the ICAO regarding the dangers of air travel in Russia. If or when something crashes, the company will have to pay for it and will be dragged through the courts. Therefore, some will scale back their presence in Russia.

International traffic accounts for 18.4% of all Russian air travel. In turn, foreign carriers account for 47% of all cross-border travel by Russians. Even if only half of the airlines leave the Russian market, Russians will either have to partially compensate for this with their own airlines or simply give up certain destinations. Apparently, this is partly what Ukraine’s statements are counting on.

We’ll see how and in what form the air blockade of Russia will unfold. One-off actions to block a particular route have already occurred repeatedly. To paralyze the entire Moscow metropolitan area for an extended period, hundreds (thousands?) of cheap drones per day would be needed.

Anton Pavlushko, Facebook