St. Petersburg suspends flights over 'unknown object' spotted in the area

A mysterious object over St. Petersburg led to temporary suspension of flights at Russia's Pulkovo Airport on Tuesday morning. The operations started again later, although it isn't clear what the object was, which Russian media claims might have been a drone. The shut down of flights at Pulkovo Airport was announced by the St. Petersburg government on its official Telegram channel without providing a reason.

Russian news agencies later reported that the temporary airspace ban within a 200-kilometre (124-mile) radius of Pulkovo Airport had been lifted by 12 pm local time.

Initial reports about the suspicious object came from RIA Novosti news agency, that cited a source in the city's emergency services to say that an unidentified object had been spotted.

Two online Russian news outlets said that fighter jets were dispatched to investigate the unidentified object. However, the jets reportedly did not find anything untoward. No official comment has yet come on the flight disruption. Also, it is unknown how thesuspicious object was investigated.

FlightRadar24 data showed that several flights headed for St Petersburg turned back early on Tuesday during the time the air closure was in effect. Flights going towards the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad also seemed to have been affected since it requires planes to fly over St. Petersburg.

(With inputs from agencies)

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