Court grants prosecutor office's motion to seize 65 planes flying to occupied Crimea

The Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC) says the court has granted its motions to seize 65 planes, which performed flights to Russian-occupied Crimea despite the ban.

Criminal case

Read alsoUkraine condemns another illegal raid of Crimean Tatar homes on occupied peninsulaLaw enforcers are investigating criminal case on the facts of violation by international airline officials of rules of international flights and procedures for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory (Part 2 of Article 332-1, Article 334 and Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Ukraine closed the airspace over occupied Crimea in March 2014 over the inability to ensure and supervise flight safety.

"Despite this, it was established about 40 Russian airlines carry out regular passenger air transportation to the occupied peninsula, violating international flight rules and Ukrainian legislation," the Prosecutor's Office said on Telegram on September 9.

In this regard, the ARC Prosecutor's Office together with the ARC Main Directorate of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine in Crimea filed a lawsuit to seize the planes of certain Russian airlines that had violated the order of entry and exit from or to the peninsula, as well as the rules of international flights.

Russian occupation of Crimea

• Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held for Crimeans to decide on accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities reported that allegedly 96.77% of the Crimean population had voted for joining Russia.
• On March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia was signed in the Kremlin.
• The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced.
• Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began.