More than 12 aircraft unable to land at Moscow airports for security reasons

Russian news agency "TASS" reported early Friday morning, citing several Moscow airports, that more than 12 aircraft were unable to land in the Russian capital.

The agency noted that this decision was taken for security reasons and that these aircraft were diverted to alternative airports.

Domodedovo Airport clarified that four flights - arriving from Dushanbe, Yerevan, Kaliningrad, and Sochi - were rerouted to Kazan and Sheremetyevo.

At Vnukovo Airport, 11 aircraft arriving from Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir, Dubai, Tbilisi, and Bodrum were redirected to other airports; most were diverted to Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Minsk.

Earlier reports indicated that a Turkish Airlines flight traveling from Istanbul to Moscow was rerouted back to Turkey before landing at Vnukovo Airport.

Operations had previously been suspended at three Moscow airports: Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky; these measures are considered necessary to ensure flight safety.