EU closes airspace to Russian aircraft and blocks state-backed media

Photo by STEPHANIE LECOCQ/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The European Union will ban Russian state-run media outlets from airing in the EU, as well as bar Russian aircraft from flying in EU airspace, according to Ursula von der Leyen.

Second, we will ban the Kremlin’s media machine in the EU.



The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, and their subsidiaries,

will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war.



We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe. pic.twitter.com/7RcPEn6E14

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 27, 2022

Von der Leyen states that the state-backed Russian networks will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war.

The EU will no longer allow private jets owned by billionaires to take out flights in or out of Europe. Several EU countries, including Germany, Spain, France, Denmark, and Italy already blocked Russia out of their airspace.

It's not clear how the EU will go about banning Russian networks completely, outside of blocking cable networks and satellite TV services from airing them. Some of the episodes of Sputnik can be found on its website. Russian state-backed channels have not been allowed to monetize their content on the platform, but they can still watch their videos in Ukraine. Facebook is targeting Russian networks by banning ads from state media.

The US and Europe announced on Saturday that they were banning some Russian banks from using the international payment network, SWIFT.