Vladimir Putin has closed Moscow airspace to all private planes and helicopters as fears of an assassination attempt mount. The area slated for closed airspace – up to an altitude of 16,700 feet – is roughly four times the size of the United Kingdom. It stretches over a swathe of central Russia from the border with Belarus in the west, north to the St. Petersburg flight zone, east towards the Urals, and joins an already restricted area in the south close to the war zone where flights have been banned for four years.
The move comes amid increasing fears of the ability of long-range Ukrainian unmanned planes to strike Moscow. Notices to Airmen are expected soon, per orders from Putin’s Transport Ministry. 'Security services are considering options for unauthorised flights of small aircraft near Moscow and Vladimir Putin’s presence — to eliminate the risk of assassination attempts,' one insider said.
Enhanced Air Defences
Air defences around Moscow and the elite housing belt close to Putin’s Novo-Ogaryovo palace to the west of the capital are being updated. This will allow the military to treat low-level, non-scheduled aircraft as suspicious without constantly checking private flight plans. All flight schools and pilot training will be banned, but the private jets of favoured oligarchs are expected to continue to fly.
Context of the Airspace Closure
Putin moved to close a large swathe of Russian airspace ahead of the continuation of air strikes on Kyiv. The flight ban may be a preventive measure ahead of any expected Ukrainian reprisals. Targets will be Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision-making centres and military-industrial facilities, including those allegedly linked to Nato states.
Growing Threats to Putin's Power
Putin is facing increasing threats to his power. An anti-Putin underground movement has vowed to overthrow him by force. The group, known as Black Spark, claims it is building a clandestine anti-regime network inside Russia made up of 'middle-class' professionals, business figures, anti-war activists and fighters with combat experience. The man behind the group has been revealed as Igor Volobuev, a Kremlin-linked banking vice-president who defected to Ukraine after Putin’s invasion and took up arms against Russia.
Black Spark’s manifesto openly calls for armed resistance against the Russian state. 'Putin’s terror killed our belief in dialogue. We realised that under a dictatorship, justice is forced to stand with Molotov cocktails,' the group said. The movement denounces Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as 'our shame and our crime' and argues that simply removing Putin is not enough. 'The empire itself — Russia’s greatest curse — must collapse,' the manifesto states.
This development underscores the heightened security concerns surrounding the Russian leader as the war in Ukraine continues and internal dissent grows.
