MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. The West’s civil aviation sanctions are a blatant disregard of international law, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"The unilateral illegitimate restrictions against Russia’s aviation industry imposed by the West have remained in place for over three months now. They include airspace closure for Russian airlines," Zakharova told a news briefing.

"Using international civil aviation as an instrument of political and economic pressure is a flagrant abuse of international air law, of a whole range of 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation provisions, and of bilateral agreements," Zakharova said.

Airlines have to reroute flights, increasing their financial burden and causing inconvenience for passengers, including in the remotest parts of the world and in Western countries, she noted. The companies are thereby aggravating environmental problems, Zakharova added, calling them a "new purpose of life" for her colleagues in the West.

Russia raised the issue with the International Civil Aviation Organization, which included it in the agenda of the session, set to take place on May 23-June 24, according to Zakharova.