The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has advised all airlines against operating in western and central Russian airspace, west of 60 degrees east longitude, due to the risk of civilian aircraft being targeted by Russian air defence systems.

The Conflict Zone Information Bulletin (CZIB) issued on January 9, 2025, says that "the activation of Russian air defence systems, capable of operating at all altitudes, in response to Ukrainian missile and drone launches, which have extended deep inside Russian territory, may have a direct impact on flight operations at several locations, including major international airports."

While the Russian authorities have closed the airspace near the border with Ukraine and occasionally restrict operations at airports with active air defence systems, EASA said that incidents have so far occurred predominantly in fully active airspace.

The European regulator named the crash of AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines E190 4K-AZ65 (msn 19000630) in Aktau on December 23, 2024, as an example. While an investigation is ongoing, the aircraft most likely suffered damage from air defence systems during an attempted landing at Grozny before diverting to Kazakhstan and crashing before landing.

The CZIB, which is advisory and does not amount to a legal ban on operations, will be in force until July 31, 2025. The area covered by the bulletin includes major western Russian hubs, including all Moscow airports, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan International, and Ufa. Ekaterinburg lies just east of the line.

EU airlines are banned from Russian airspace in retaliation for European sanctions on Russia, rendering the current CZIB moot to them. However, other carriers, which are not banned from Russia, have curtailed their network to the country in the wake of the AZAL E190 crash. The Azerbaijani airline itself suspended its flights to Kazan indefinitely starting on January 8, and it previously paused services to ten cities located in southeastern Russia closer to the border with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Georgian Airways (A9, Tbilisi) will pause its flights from Tbilisi to Novosibirsk on January 19. While the Russian airport itself is well east of the CZIB-delineated region, the airline would have to overfly the area en route.

The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) called the ban "absurd" and said that the European regulator was trying to restrict the number of Asian airlines overflying Russia on their services to and from Europe. EASA, it said, "is simply trying to regain a competitive advantage for its companies that has been lost."