Sanctions | Russian media: Russia has also received spare parts for Western aircraft from Europe

THE RUSSIANS the airlines have received spare parts for their aircraft manufactured in Western countries, despite economic sanctions, also through European companies. The matter was reported earlier this week by an independent company operating from Latvia Russian media Važnyje Istorii (Finnish Important stories).

Already in August news agency Reuters said in its analysis based on customs data that spare parts used in airplanes of American Boeing and European Airbus worth at least 1.1 billion euros would have been imported to Russia. Its investigation covered the period from May last year to June this year.

Važnje Istori’s report is also based on customs statistics, although its calculations differ from those given by Reuters in August. According to the Russian media, spare parts would have been brought to Russia for at least around 175 million euros (18 billion rubles). Važnje Istori’s report contains customs data between March of last year and March of this year.

Russia has long been estimated to circumvent sanctions by importing Western products through third countries.

Važnje Istori according to Boeing and Airbus original spare parts suppliers were found especially in the United Arab Emirates, China and Turkey. There were also companies from Europe.

According to the report, the largest seller is the United Arab Emirates, where companies operating there accounted for over 87 million euros in sales. China held second place with sales of 48 million euros. Third on the list is Turkey, where sales were recorded for 19 million euros.

None of these countries have joined the sanctions against Russia.

Važnyje Istorii also listed the largest individual companies that have sold aircraft spare parts to Russia. The three largest, according to the list, were ATS Heavy Equipment & Machinery from the United Arab Emirates, China’s Xi’an Aerotek Aviation Supplies and Turkey’s Na Havacilik Ve Teknik Tıcaret.

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According to the report, the biggest seller is the United Arab Emirates.

Europeans sellers were found in three countries: Moldova, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.

Founder of Max Jet Service, a Moldovan company that supplied spare parts Sergei Ranga refused to speak to the newspaper on the subject.

According to the report, a Lithuanian company called Right Direction Aero has delivered spare parts to the Russian airline Ifly for around 130,000 euros. The supplied parts ranged from sensors to toilet seat covers and nuts.

Company owner and CEO Pavel Chalapov claimed that his company had not sold anything to Russia. When Važnyje Istoriin sent him a list of parts sold, Tshalapov explained that he did not sell parts to IFly, but to the Kyrgyz company Cargoline. However, customs databases show that the parts ended up in Ifly.

“We sold airplane spare parts to Cargoline on the condition that they would not sell anything to Russia again. As far as I can see, Cargoline withheld information from us, deceived us and apparently falsified documents”, Tshalapov explained the situation to Važnyje Istori, also stating that he no longer deals with either company.

Cargoline was registered a month after the start of the Russian invasion, when Airbus and Boeing, among others, refused to supply spare parts to Russian airlines. Customs information shows that the Lithuanian company is not the only one from which Cargoline bought spare parts for delivery to Ifly.

According to Važnyje Istori, the Czech company Apram Aerospace sold spare parts to Ifly and other Russian companies both before and during the war.

Many representatives of the companies contacted by Važnije Istori either did not respond to the magazine’s requests for comment or avoided answering the questions.

Ukrainian after the attack, Western countries began to restrict or ban Russian air travel and the supply of aircraft spare parts.

The sanctions on spare parts were meant to cripple air traffic, because most of the civil aviation in Russia is done with foreign planes. According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, it covers up to 95 percent of the passenger flow.