Europe's aviation regulator issues new warning for Russian airspace

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a new alert on Thursday warning non-European carriers not to fly within western Russia airspace due to the risk of being unintentionally targeted by its air defence systems. EASA said the crash last month in Kazakhstan of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, after Russian air defences fired against Ukrainian drones, demonstrated the high risk at play. "The ongoing conflict following the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses the risk of civil aircraft being unintentionally targeted in the airspace of the Russian Federation due to possible civil-military coordination deficiencies, and the potential for misidentification," EASA said.