A Russian Air Force Ilyushin Il-62M (registration RA-86572, flying as RFF7244) has carried out a long transfer flight from Russia to eastern Libya earlier today. The aircraft crossed the Black Sea, entered Turkish airspace near the northern coast, and continued over the entire length of Türkiye before heading south toward the central Mediterranean, ultimately reaching its destination in Libya.
The route itself is not unusual for Russian military flights bound for Benghazi or other areas of eastern Libya, but it remains noteworthy for one specific reason: Türkiye is currently the only NATO member state still allowing routine overflight permissions to Russian military aircraft, as if nothing had changed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
While all other Alliance members have closed their airspace to Russian state and military traffic, Ankara continues to provide a corridor connecting Russia to Syria and Libya. This allows Moscow to maintain uninterrupted air links with regions where its military and political involvement remains significant.
In today’s case, the Il-62M followed the standard corridor from southern Russia to the Mediterranean, bypassing European NATO airspace entirely and relying exclusively on Turkish overflight to reach North Africa.
This persistent exception within NATO airspace policies continues to raise questions about Ankara’s strategic balancing between Alliance commitments and its bilateral relationship with Moscow.
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