INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia temporarily closed airspace over St
Petersburg, and the city&s Pulkovo Airport temporarily suspended all flights on Tuesday.The announcement was made on the city government&s
official Telegram channel and came amid unconfirmed reports that an unidentified object or a drone was spotted above St
Petersburg.&Pulkovo Airport temporarily does not accept or send aircraft,& the city government&s notice read.Russia&s state-run news agency
RIA Novosti reported howeverthat flights from the airport were delayed until 12 p.m
Moscow time, and that the airport was operating as normal.According to Newsweek, the city&s government posted an update at around 12:30 p.m
local time, saying: &The sky in St
Petersburg is open: all temporary restrictions have been lifted.&Data from the Flightradar24 service showed 200 square kilometers (124
miles) of airspace had been closed over St
Petersburg and the Leningrad Region
A Newsweek search found that at least five flights had been diverted from Pulkovo Airport.The state-run TASS news agency also cited an
unnamed source as saying that airspace within a 200-kilometer (124-mile) radius of Pulkovo Airport was ordered closed until 1:20 p.m
local time.Russian news outlet Baza reported that local authorities had introduced a &Carpet& plan after an unidentified object was seen
Fighter jets had been dispatched to investigate, Newsweek reported.According to Baza, the fighter jets were sent to intercept an object that
was coming from the Gulf of Finland.The post Russia closes airspace over St Petersburg after drone spotted first appeared on Ariana News.
