Russian Foreign Ministry summons Sri Lankan envoy over detained plane

Sri Lankan Ambassador to Moscow Janitha Abewickrema Liyanage was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday where she was expressed resolute protest over the detention of an Aeroflot plane in her country, according to a statement made by the Russian diplomatic agency.

“The head of the diplomatic mission was expressed protest over the groundless decision by Sri Lanka’s judicial authorities to detain a regular Aeroflot flight preparing to depart for Moscow at Bandaranaike International Airport on June 2,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“We urged the Sri Lankan side to settle this problem as soon as possible to avoid its negative impact on traditionally friendly bilateral relations,” the agency added.

Meanwhile, Aeroflot has announced that it will be suspending commercial flights to Sri Lanka for the time being, due to “unreliability of the situation in terms of ensuring unhindered flights of the airline’s aircraft to Sri Lanka”.

Citing the company, the report mentioned that passengers who are in Colombo and have tickets for return flights to Moscow dated June 2, June 4 and June 5 will be delivered to Moscow by flights departing on June 4 and June 5.

On 2nd of June, the Colombo Commercial High Court issued an enjoining order preventing a Russian ‘Aeroflot’ aircraft from leaving Sri Lanka.

Colombo Commercial High Court Judge Harsha Sethunga issued the enjoining order on the respondent Russian airline after hearing a complaint filed by Celestial Aviation Trading Limited in Ireland, and this enjoining order will remain in effect until the 16th of June.

The plaintiff states that it has a settlement case with the respondent Russian Airlines, and therefore, the complainant had filed a complaint seeking an injunction restraining an aircraft belonging to the respondent airline from leaving Sri Lanka.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES