MOSCOW, May 10, /ITAR-TASS/. Romania has closed its air space to the plane of Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is returning from Transdniestria to Moscow.
"Upon the U.S. request, Romania has closed its air space for my plane. Ukraine doesn't allow me to pass through," Rogozin tweeted on Saturday.
However, he said the sanctions would not make him cancel his future trips to Tiraspol (Transdniestria's capital).
"Next time, I'll fly on board Tu-160 [variable swept-wing strategic bomber]," he said.
Two days before, the deputy premier had transport problems on his way to the capital of the self-proclaimed republic where he attended a Victory Day parade. His plane, headed for Moldova's capital Chisinau, was not allowed to fly into Ukraine's air space, so he had to make a detour through Bulgaria and Romania.
"I see it's a 4.5-hour flight to Chisinau through Bulgaria and Romania. Ukraine does not let us fly through its air space," Rogozin wrote in his post then.
"Good that Ukraine is not like Russia, otherwise the fly-around would take about 20 hours." After Rogozin's plane landed, the pilot said that Bulgarian and Romanian air traffic controllers had been asking him whether the plane was carrying "a banned passenger."
"They considered sending interceptor planes, Rogozin added.
In the latest post on Facebook, the deputy premier explained that Romania had closed its air space to him in connection with European Union's sanctions.