Belarusian aircraft banned from Canadian airspace

Canada announced on Wednesday it would be banning Belarusian aircraft from its airspace in response to their backing of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

“We are prohibiting Belarusian aircraft from entering Canadian airspace in response to their support for Russia’s unprovoked aggression in Ukraine,” Canadian transport minister Omar Alghabra tweeted.

The European Union banned Belarusian aircraft from its airspace last year after a plane that was carrying a dissident journalist was forced to land in Belarus, which was widely condemned by European leaders. 

Both the United States and European Union have banned Russian aircraft from their airspace in a rebuke to Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

“I am announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American air space to all Russian flights — further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy,” President Biden announced during his first State of the Union address.

The European Union and the U.S. have also imposed sanctions toward Belarusian military members and personnel in addition to entities within financial institutions and the defense sector. Other sectors of the Belarusian economy like the steel, wood and potato industries, have also been hit by sanctions.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is considered an ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his country is seen as being complicit in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including when Belarus and Russia conducted military drills together prior to the start of the conflict. 

In late January, Lukashenko vowed that if either Russia or Belarus were attacked, there would be a war.