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Russian Planes Travel Almost Record Distance to Recover Expelled Diplomats

As the war Russia is waging against Ukraine continues, so do the sanctions Western countries are imposing on the nation and Vladimir Putin’s regime. These sanctions are now backed by an increasing number of diplomats being expelled from other nations, and combined, the two have a strange effect on Russian aviation.
Route taken by Russian Ilyushin airplane to recover expelled diplomats 7 photos
Photo: Flight Radar
IL-76MD-90AIL-76MD-90AIL-76IL-76MD-90AIL-76MD-90AIL-76MD-90A
One of the first measures Europe and the world took against Russia, in response to its aggression against Ukraine, was to close the skies. As of March 1, no Russian plane is allowed to fly in the airspace of no less than 36 countries, including 27 EU members. And that poses serious challenges when it comes to retrieving diplomats that keep getting expelled.

Last week, for instance, both Spain and Greece did that, and for these guys to travel by land from either back to their homeland was out of the question. As usual, Russia sent planes to fetch its people, and it received permission from both nations to enter their airspace.

No permission was granted by the other European regions the planes would have had to fly over, and that caused the staged flight to take a very long detour. How long? As per Flight Radar, long enough to come close, combined, to the current world’s longest flight, between Singapore and New York, which was in the air for over 15,300 km (over 9,500 miles) and more than 17 hours.

More to the point, the Russians had to fly for 15,163 km (9,421 miles), departing from Moscow for Madrid, but having to go around the entire Europe, doubling the distance they usually would have had to cover.

From Madrid, the plane departed for Athens, on a relatively more direct route this time, as it had to fly over North Africa and the Mediterranean, only needing to dodge Italian and Maltese air spaces. From Athens, it departed for Moscow, on a route that took it over Turkey, which still has its skies open to the Russians.

As per Flight Radar, the plane in question is an Ilyushin Il-96-300, and even if it didn’t cover the record distance in a single run, the comparison only goes to show how much a nation is affected if the others decide to cut it off from the world.
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Editor's note: Gallery shows the Russian IL-76MD-90A cargo plane.

About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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