More and more airlines are canceling flights into and out of Russia and American citizens in the country should consider leaving “immediately,” the U.S. Embassy in Moscow warned in a security alert Sunday.
The move came on the fourth day of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, hours after the European Union announced that it would ban all Russian aircraft from its airspace. The Level 4 travel advisory recommends not traveling to Russia due to “ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine,
the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens [and] the embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia,” among other reasons. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two, has unleashed a barrage of Western reprisals, with U.S. and European governments imposing sanctions on Russian banks and financial institutions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the attack a “special operation” through which he aims to demilitarize Moscow’s southern neighbor. The State Department has kept its travel advisory for Russia at “Level 4: Do Not Travel.” On Feb. 20, the U.S. embassy in Moscow had advised Americans in the country to have an evacuation plan, citing the threat of attacks in Moscow and along the Russian border with Ukraine.
