Foreign Aircraft Continue Flowing Into Russia Despite Western Sanctions

Despite sweeping sanctions by the United States and the European Union aimed at halting the supply of foreign-made aircraft to Russia, at least 28 planes have been imported into the country since the start of 2024, according to Russian media Verstka on December 26.

These include both small private jets and large passenger aircraft, according to confidential customs data.

Most of these aircraft were imported via intermediary countries, including Turkey (11 times), Oman (3 times), and the UAE and Germany (2 times each). Other countries like Serbia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia also played intermediary roles. In some cases, customs declarations only cited codes for nations such as Ireland, Cyprus, and Kyrgyzstan.

The imported planes include high-value models such as Bombardier, Airbus, ATR 42-500, and Hawker 800 XP. One Bombardier jet valued at $45.5 million was imported by Denis Krasnopolskiy, the CEO of “Inpromaktiv,” a Russian aviation manufacturer.

Another Bombardier jet, worth between $24.5 and $32.8 million, was brought into the country by Meridian Airlines from the UAE. This aircraft has been operating passenger flights between Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Tehran, Baku, and Astana. Similarly, a €16 million Bombardier delivered to Skylight Airlines in Kyrgyzstan services routes to China, Turkey, Dubai, and the Maldives.

An Airbus A319-111, valued at $35 million and purchased via Lithuania for the airline Aurora, is being used for flights across Russia’s Far East. Additionally, a Yakutian airline, Alrosa, acquired a Boeing 737-800 for domestic and regional flights, including routes to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Blagoveshchensk.

Customs documents reveal that 9 aircraft were imported by a company linked to 52-year-old businessman Yevgeny Kabanov. Kabanov, who founded Turkish company Edermont LTD and Kyrgyz firm Edermont Pamir, reportedly facilitates these imports. His companies have smuggled Cessna planes, Aero Commander 680Vs, and Piper PA-28RT-201Ts, among others.

Kabanov openly shared strategies for circumventing sanctions to deliver foreign aircraft to Russia in Telegram. According to him, planes can either be flown directly to their destinations or disassembled and transported by land or sea.

Once in Russia, the planes undergo local registration, receive airworthiness certification, and are made operational. Kabanov even advertised cost estimates for these services, offering calculations “accurate to within a couple of thousand dollars.”

Sanctions introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prohibit the export of foreign-made aircraft, spare parts, and maintenance services to Russia. These measures aimed to cripple the Russian aviation sector’s reliance on Western technology.

Earlier, reports emerged that out of the announced 108 passenger planes, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation managed to produce only 7 planes.