Surely its not the Russian airspace permit that makes AY quicker than the ME3, but it is avoiding the 'dog-leg' flying south to the Gulf that makes them quicker. BA and other European carriers fly a similar routing to the Far East, except most of these carriers have to fly an extra 90 minutes or so before starting out across northern Russia. With AY from the UK regions, you avoid the initial back-track to LHR/AMS/CDG/FRA so save a considerable amount of time.