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Russia closes all 4 Moscow airports for unspecified 'safety' concerns

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Russia closes all 4 Moscow airports for unspecified 'safety' concerns
Moscow's Domodedovo airport, Sept. 2022. (Photo by Vlad Karkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Russia temporarily suspended flights at all four airports operating in Moscow on Dec. 26, citing safety concerns, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) announced.

A fifth airport in Kaluga was also closed.

"To ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights, temporary restrictions have been introduced on the operation of Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Zhukovsky and Kaluga airports," Rosaviatsiya said on Dec. 26.

The agency did not specify the cause of the security concerns.

All airports were reopened after temporary closure.

Moscow has previously shut down its airports amid drone strikes over the region. Ukraine launched its largest drone attack against Moscow in November 2024.

The latest announcement comes as Russian air defense operations are under scrutiny due to the crash of an Azerbaijani Airlines plane in Kazakhstan on Dec. 25. The crash was reportedly caused by a Russian air defense missile, according to a preliminary investigation.

The missile allegedly targeted Flight 8432 during drone activity over Grozny.

Azerbaijani government sources claim Russian missile caused plane crash over Kazakhstan, Euronews reports
A Russian surface-to-air missile caused the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight near Aktau, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijani government sources reportedly confirmed on Dec. 26. The missile was fired from a Pantsir-S air defense system.
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Abbey Fenbert

Senior News Editor

Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.

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