Russia to take tit-for-tat measures if Ukraine bans Russian airlines’ flights — minister

Russia will take tit-for-tat measures if Ukraine bans flights across its territory for Russian airlines, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Friday.

"We learned from media today that the government of Arseny Yatsenyuk plans to ban flights of the Aeroflot and Transaero airlines on Ukrainian territory. If the intentions are implemented into real documents of Ukraine’s air authorities, who close airspace for Russian companies, then the Russian authorities will have to adopt mirror measures," Sokolov said.

He said this will actually lead to a halt of air traffic between the countries. "And Ukrainian citizens will be the first ones to suffer from that. But I will underscore that in the current situation, the Russian side is forced to take that step by the actions of the Ukrainian authorities," the minister said.

Earlier Yatsenyuk said Ukraine banned flights by Aeroflot and Transaero to Ukraine. All transit flights of Russian airlines above Ukraine have also been banned. The Russian aviation authorities have so far not received any notifications from Ukraine on banning flights of Russian airlines to Ukraine.