Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to land at Delhi’s Palam Air Force Station at 6:35 pm today. His aircraft now flies only through carefully selected and limited air corridors. The biggest reason for this is the widespread airspace restrictions imposed by Western nations after the Russia–Ukraine war began.

Since February 2022, all 27 European Union countries, along with the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and several others, have completely shut their airspace to Russian aircraft. As a result, Putin’s plane cannot fly over nearly 100 to 125 countries.

Which countries does Putin avoid flying over?

According to flight-tracking services (Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange) and Russian Foreign Ministry route details up to 2024–25, Putin’s aircraft now avoids these regions:

• All of Europe (EU, UK, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine)
• The United States and Canada
• Australia and New Zealand
• Japan and South Korea
• Many Balkan and Baltic nations
• Select Southeast Asian and South American countries that do not grant overflight permission to Russia

Which route does Putin use now?

Because Western airspace is closed, Putin typically takes a southern corridor:

Russia → Caspian Sea → Iran → Pakistan/Afghanistan → India or China.

For visits to Gulf or African nations, Russian aircraft use routes through Azerbaijan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Central Asia. Countries like India, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE, Iran, and Kazakhstan continue to allow Russian planes to use their airspace.

India is also not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which means it is not legally required to detain Putin or enforce ICC arrest warrants. As a result, Putin can freely visit India—though due to sanctions, he must take longer and more restricted flight paths.

Which route will Putin likely take to India?

From Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport to Delhi’s Palam Air Force Station, Putin has several viable travel corridors. These are the most probable six routes:

Route 1: Moscow → Caspian Sea → Tehran (Iran) → Pakistan → India
Route 2: Moscow → Baku (Azerbaijan) → Iran → India
Route 3: Moscow → Central Asia → Kabul (Afghanistan) → India
Route 4: Moscow → a direct southern corridor over Iran → India
Route 5: Moscow → Tashkent (Uzbekistan) → India
Route 6: Moscow → Almaty (Kazakhstan) → India