28 airplanes were imported into russia in a year to circumvent sanctions

Since the beginning of 2024, at least 28 aircraft, including both small aircraft and large passenger airliners, have been imported to russia from abroad.

Most often, aircraft banned for sale to russia were imported through Turkey (11 times), three aircraft were delivered through Oman, two through the United Arab Emirates, and the same number through Germany. Other intermediary countries mentioned by russian customs were Serbia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia. Ireland, Cyprus, and Kyrgyzstan were listed in the customs declarations only as a code.

Out of the 28 aircraft, several were passenger Bombardiers, Airbus, ATR 42-500 and Hawker 800 XP.

One of the Bombardier planes worth about $45.5 million was imported in the name of Denys Krasnopolskyi, the CEO of the Inpromaktiv joint-stock company, which manufactures aircraft.

Bombardiers worth between $24.5 and $32.8 million were also imported by Meridian Airlines from the UAE, and are used for passenger flights between moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Tehran, Baku, Astana, and other cities.

Another Bombardier worth about 16 million euros was delivered to Skylight Airlines from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, and it now operates flights to China, Turkey, Dubai, and the Maldives.

A French Airbus A319-111 worth about $35 million, purchased by the russian company Aurora through Lithuania, is now operating in the russian Far East. In addition, one Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft was purchased by the Yakutian airline Alrosa for flights to moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Blagoveshchensk.

According to customs documents, the nine aircraft were imported by the Modern Technologies company of 52-year-old businessman Yevgeny Kabanov. He is the founder of the Turkish company Edermont LTD and the Kyrgyz company Edermont Pamir, through which the planes are delivered to russia. In particular, Kabanov's company helped to import Cessna aircraft, Aero Commander 680V, designed for civil aviation, as well as the American Piper PA-28RT-201T aircraft.

At the same time, a company associated with Kabanov openly advertised the import of aircraft to circumvent sanctions.

According to Kabanov, there are two options in the first case, the first of which is to fly the plane yourself or use the services of a pilot. In the latter case, the aircraft is flown to the place of basing, where it undergoes russian registration and receives an airworthiness certificate.

Another option is transportation by land or sea. In this case, according to Kabanov, the aircraft must be disassembled, loaded into a container and sent to an intermediate destination.

After customs clearance, it goes to its destination, where it goes through customs again. Then, at the place of basing, the aircraft needs to be assembled, flown around, and the necessary documents obtained.

Source: Epravda