Grant Shapps makes it criminal offence for any Russian planes to enter UK airspace

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said he has made it a criminal offence for any Russian planes to enter UK airspace.

In a tweet, he said: “I have made it a criminal offence for any Russian aircraft to enter UK airspace and now HMG can detain these jets.

“We will suffocate (Vladimir) Putin’s cronies’ ability to continue living as normal while thousands of innocent people die.”

The announcement came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was given a standing ovation by MPs as he made a historic address to the House of Commons.

Speaking through a video link from Ukraine, Zelensky told MPs that he was addressing them as a citizen and president of a big country “with a dream and big effort”.

In his speech, he underlined his country’s position as a nation in a war that “we didn’t start and we didn’t want”.

But, he insisted that the nation’s people do not want to lose “what we have, what is ours, our country Ukraine”.

Before the speech, the UK and the US jointly announced they would be banning the import of Russian oil and related products by 2023 as the allies looked to pile further economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the nine-month delay until impact meant the fuel sector and other firms would have “more than enough time to replace Russian imports”.

With 8% of UK oil demand coming from Russia, the cabinet minister urged businesses to “use this year to ensure a smooth transition so that consumers will not be affected”, with support given to find alternative supplies.

No UK petrol demand comes from Russia, nor heating or fuel oil, according to the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (Dukes) 2020.

However, 18% of total demand for diesel and 5% of jet fuel comes from Russia.

Beis officials said the ban, with the import of Russian oil making up almost half of Russian exports and 17% of federal government revenue through taxation, would “choke off a valuable source of income” for the Kremlin.