MOSCOW (Dispatches) - The volcanic ash cloud formed as a result of an Iceland’s volcano eruption has approached the Russian capital’ s region and “Moscow is situated in as semicircle of its fine-dispersed particles,” Director General of the Meteorological Agency of the Federal Service of Russia on Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Environment (Rosgidromet) Marina Petrova told Itar-Tass on Friday.

“We have been promptly transmitting the information to Rosaviatsiya (Federal Air Transport Agency) and Rosaeronavigatsiya (Federal Air Navigation Service) and at present they are deciding the issue of the use of the Russian airspace,” she said. Petrova specified that the “flights’ possibility will be considered for every single plane, taking into account different technical characteristics of planes.”
Due to the volcano eruption in Iceland the airspace over Northwest Europe will be closed for two days. In this connection Aeroflot – Russian Airlines company has set up the response headquarters and cancelled a number of flights to European countries and also to Kaliningrad.
Volcanic ash shifted down on parts of northern Europe on Friday as travel chaos engulfed major European cities and the UN warned of possible health risks from falling ash.
Eurocontrol, the European air traffic agency, said the travel disruptions that reverberated throughout the world Thursday were even worse on Friday, with about 11,000 flights expected to operate in Europe instead of the usual 28,000. It said delays will continue well into Saturday as the massive yet invisible ash cloud moves slowly south and east.
Polish officials fretted that the ash cloud could threaten the arrival of world leaders for Sunday’s state funeral of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, in Krakow. U.S. President B. Obama, Russian President D. Medvedev and German Chancellor A. Merkel are among those coming and no one has cancelled.
(See story on page 10)