(Reuters.) – Canada and European countries shut their airspace Sunday to Russian flights. The unprecedented action was made to pressure President Vladimir Putin to stop his invasion in Ukraine.

As the airlines industry struggles to cope with the consequences of the pandemic worldwide, the ban on Russian aircraft comes at a time when demand continues to be high for flights.

Germany, France, and the Nordics joined Britain and the Baltic States in banning Russian airspace use. This is a significant escalation of a strategy by most NATO allies to wage an economic war on Putin as a retaliation against the invasion.

A West led by America also imposed severe sanctions on Russia. It called the attack on Ukraine “special operations” in order to destroy Kyiv’s “junta”, cap dangerous nationalists, and dismantle Ukraine’s military.

It is widely believed that Russia will retaliate further against other sanctions and airblockades. Russia has responded already to European’s first airspace bans by issuing its own regulations banning airlines from Britain and Bulgaria.

Experts warn that without Russian airways access, carriers could face difficulty diverting flights to the south and avoiding tension areas in the Middle East. It is a significant delay and expense.

France has announced that it will shut down its airspace to Russian planes and airlines starting tonight, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari (French Transport Minister) said via Twitter. This announcement was widely shared across Europe.

The German transport ministry had earlier announced that it will close the airspace of Russian aircraft and planes for 3 months starting Sunday. Humanitarian aid flights are exempted from this closure.

Canada announced on Sunday that Russia was now barred from its airspace effective immediately.

Air Canada claimed it doesn’t operate to Russia and Ukraine, and that at all times, it adheres to all Airspace Restrictions per Transport Canada (U.S Federation Avian Administration).

Similar announcements were made by the Nordic countries Sweden and Finland as well as Denmark and Iceland. These announcements follow closures in Britain, Poland and Bulgaria and Czech Republic. Baltic countries Lithuania and Estonia will also close their airspace to Russian planes.

Hans Dahlgren, Swedish EU Minister to Russia said to public service radio SR that “it is absolutely necessary now to proceed with additional touch measures in order to isolate Russia.”

In a late Saturday tweet, Timo Harakka, the Finnish Minister for Transport and Communications, stated that Finland shares a long-standing land border with Russia and was in preparation for a similar closure.