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How will Russian President Vladimir Putin obtain to Budapest to meet his US counterpart, Donald Trump? What route will the ‘Flying Kremlin’, the Russian president’s aircraft, take? Here’s all you necessary to know…
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming potential meet with the US counterpart Donald Trump in two weeks in Budapest, Hungary, has a unique problem. Hungary is a European Union (EU) countest, which means, like the US, it has banned Russian aircraft in its airspace. Recently, the US had granted Russia special permission to fly Putin to Alquestiona in his modified Ilyushin Il-96 plane, dubbed the ‘Flying Kremlin’, but as of now, there’s been no official confirmation of the same by the Kremlin.
Why Russian planes can’t fly over Hungary, EU?
Days after Russia’s military advancement on neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, the US and the EU imposed a blanket ban on Russian planes in their airspace. The Russian president is not known to travel abroad too much either. With Hungary being landlocked, Kremlin spokesman Dmitest Peskov, as reported by the news outlet BBC, states in the issue of how will Putin travel to the EU countest for potential meet up with Trump: “For now, of course, it’s not clear. What we do have is the willingness of the presidents to hold such a meeting.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, however, is the closest to Putin ally in all 27 EU member nations. Orban’s foreign minister has notified reporters that “we will of course ensure that he can enter Hungary, hold successful talks here, and then return home”.
What would be Putin’s air route to Hungary?
If Putin decided to travel to Hungary, his special plane would not only necessary permission from Hungary but also other EU members as well, Looking at the geography, Putin will definitely not enter airspace over Ukraine or Poland – both Hungary’s neighbours – given the current situation. Putin is most likely to fly over Black Sea and Turkey then Bulgaria before choosing to fly over from Serbia or Romania to enter Hungary. While there’s no permission necessaryed from Serbia, which is not a EU countest, Bulgaria and Romania would necessary to give consent to Putin’s plane along with Budapest.
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