Companies from Moldova have sold $15 million worth of aircraft parts to russia since 2022

During 2022-2023 - that is, even after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and sanctions against russia - three Moldovan companies sold aircraft parts to russia for a total of about $15 million.

The supply of aircraft parts to russia through Moldova began a few months after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

Parts from Western countries were delivered to major russian airlines such as Pobeda and S7 Engineering.

Three Moldovan companies were involved in the scheme - Airrock Solutions, Aerostage Services, and Maxjet Service. The first two were founded in November 2021 and April 2022, and their owner is Ivan Melnikov, a former top official of the Moldovan airline Air Moldova, while the third has existed since 2011 and is owned by Sergei Ranga.

All three companies acted as intermediaries, placing orders for spare parts and then helping to transport them to russia, sometimes directly to russian airports. At the same time, the deliveries were not made through Moldovan territory.

Both Melnikov and Ranga stated that they did not know about the delivery of parts purchased by their companies to russia - they were contracted to other CIS countries.

The investigation states that the reason for this situation could be Moldova's non-accession to some EU sanctions against russia, which relate to the supply of aircraft parts.

The office of the President of Moldova said that it was aware of these cases and that they were already being dealt with by "competent authorities." In addition, Kishinev is discussing the possibility of joining other EU sanctions.

Source: Moldovan service of Radio Liberty