International

Russia: Flights Suspended At 2 Moscow Airports Temporarily Amid Suspected Drone Attack; Operations Restored Now

The two concerned airports, Vnukovo airport and Kaluga airport, located at a distance of 150 kilometers southwest of Moscow, later resumed operations. Earlier, Moscow's mayor confirmed about gunning down of two drones that were hovering over the Russian capital. Although, no nexus was confirmed between the drone incident and the closure of two airports.

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Suspecting possible drone attack, two Russian airports on Friday halted their normal functions and resorted to keeping the airspace closed, with all arrivals and departures suspended, as per the RIA state news agency.

The two concerned airports, Vnukovo airport and Kaluga airport, located at a distanece of 150 kilometres southwest of Moscow, later resumed operations, TASS news agency reported.

"From 10:50 am (local time), the restrictions on flights were removed. At the current time the airport is working normally," TASS quoted a source at Vnukovo airport as saying.

Citing reasons beyond the control, earlier, the airport authority had said it was compelled to suspend all flights, adding that some flights had been redirected to other airports in the Moscow region. It gave no further information.

Later, Moscow's mayor confirmed about gunning down of two drones that were hovering over the Russian capital. Although, no nexus was confirmed between the drone incident and the closure of two airports.

Russia has been witnessing a surge in frequency of drone air strikes since a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. 

Russian officials on Thursday said that Russia so far has downed 13 Ukrainian drones seeking to attack Moscow and also the largest city in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.