Why is it important to close down Moscow airports? Because it has a huge impact on Russian economy and logistics. The Moscow Aviation Hub is essentially a bottleneck for Russian logistics. Whenever its work is disrupted, it creates a cascading effect on the Russian logistics as a whole. Moscow is the central hub for the Russian domestic and international air traffic. When the Moscow airports (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Zhukovsky airports) close down, this disrupts connectivity across all of Russia, and matters are further complicated by the fact that Russia has 11 time zones. Russian aviation is heavily centralized, and due to the cize of the country, aviation is the only viable transportation means for long-distance travel in Russia, cargo transportation included. When flights are delayed and/or canceled, the ripple effect is felt all across Russia. The Russian state is forced to install air defense systems in the area, taking them from the front lines and military infrastructure inside Russia. Russian airlines bear additional costs of using more jet fuel, added handling fees at alternate destinations and paying compensations to passengers for the delays. Flights that cannot arrive in Moscow airports are diverted to other airports which creates a strain on the ground infrastructure and fuel resources of those alternative airports. Russian airlines and planes already work under severe Western sanctions that complicate obtaining spare parts and performing maintenance. There have been reports that about 20% of the Russian airfleet failed to return to active service due to needing maintenance. For large airlines, these figures can reach up to 30%. This also means that the remaining 70/80% of the planes are working more which leads to more vulnerability. In addition to all the direct and indirect costs of closing down the Russian airports, there is also a moral impact. The Kremlin largely prefers to "insulate" large cities (starting with Moscow and St Petersburg) from the war, creating the illusion of normalcy and "business as usual." When passengers cannot leave on their flights for hours and businesses suffer from logistics disruptions, it serves as a loud reminder about the war to those Russian priviliged enough to ignore it otherwise.