Ukrainian drone alert disrupts Russian government flights returning from Putin’s Turkmenistan trip
Several aircraft from Russia’s Rossiya Special Flight Detachment, which transports the country’s leaders and senior officials, circled over Moscow on the evening of October 9 because of the threat of a Ukrainian drone attack.
On October 9, Ukrainian drone threats forced Russian aircraft to circle over Moscow, according to reports from several news outlets. At least three of the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment's aircraft, used to transport Russian leaders, were returning from a trip to Turkmenistan where President Vladimir Putin attended a summit. Two of these Il-96 aircraft, with registration numbers RA-96020 and RA-96022, hovered over Moscow for six hours before landing at Vnukovo Airport.
A third aircraft, RA-96025, initially flew over Moscow before being diverted to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport. Restrictions on all Moscow airports were imposed around 3:40 p.m. and lifted by 6:40 p.m., causing over 200 flights to be delayed or canceled. It remains unclear which aircraft President Putin was traveling on, though sources suggest it could have been the third Il-96, RA-96025.
The threat of a "closed sky" over Russia had been raised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in early September, prompting Russia's Transport Ministry to pledge to prevent significant disruptions to civil aviation.
Written by urgent.news from Meduza (English)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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