UFO drama hits St Petersburg flights

Russia's Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg temporarily suspended all flights yesterday morning before restarting them amid unconfirmed Russian media reports of an unidentified object such as a drone in the area.

The government of Russia's second city announced the closure on its official Telegram channel without providing a reason for the suspension.

Russian news agencies reported later that flights had resumed and that a temporary airspace ban within a 200-kilometer radius of Pulkovo had been lifted by noon local time.

The RIA Novosti news agency had earlier reported, citing a source in the city's emergency services, that an unidentified object had been spotted, prompting the initial closure.

Unconfirmed media reports from two online Russian news outlets reported that fighter jets had been despatched to investigate. They later said that the jets had not found anything.

In a briefing after flights had resumed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been kept fully informed of the situation. Data from the FlightRadar24 website showed a number of flights headed for St Petersburg turning back to their destinations early yesterday, while the airspace closure also appeared to affect flights en route to Kaliningrad. By 1200 local time, flights had resumed flying towards St Petersburg, the website showed.