Russian airlines buy spare parts to circumvent sanctions

From May of last year to June of this year, Russian airlines purchased Western spare parts for the sum of 1.2 billion dollars, despite the sanctions introduced after the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine. This was reported by the Reuters agency, which studied the customs data.

Among the purchased equipment were devices from the American company Northrop Grumman, pressure valves in the cabin, landing gear, as well as coffee makers, flight attendants’ handsets and toilet seats.

According to customs data, the parts arrived in Russia through intermediaries in countries such as Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, China and Kyrgyzstan.

The agency also concluded that Ural Airlines had imported more than 20 American-made devices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Deputy General Director of the airline Kirill Skuratov refused to comment to Reuters on how the Russian carrier purchased spare parts.

The sum of 1.2 billion dollars does not reflect the total cost of aircraft parts delivered to Russia, as Reuters examined only deliveries intended for Russian airlines or their maintenance divisions. Deliveries of aircraft parts intended for other companies are not included in this study.

The Northrop Grumman company, having studied the Reuters data, said that it did not detect any sales or repair services that were provided to Russian enterprises. Northrop Grumman said that the company has “reliable processes and procedures to ensure compliance with all laws and regulations related to exports and sanctions.”

Before the introduction of Western sanctions, Russian airlines turned to large companies such as Lufthansa Technik for maintenance of their aircraft. But when these companies stopped providing their services, airlines began to turn to smaller suppliers.

For example, as Reuters found out, in April 2022, the technical service division of the S7 airline began importing parts from the Moldovan company Air Rock Solutions. According to reports, the S7 received at least $1.23 million worth of parts from Air Rock Solutions over the next 14 months.

The executive director of the company, Ivan Melnikov, denies selling products to Russia. He stated that most of his customers were located, in particular, in the UAE and Kyrgyzstan. Reuters found out that most of the cargo from this company actually got to Russia through other countries. The Moldovan businessman did not answer the question whether this could indicate that his clients in these countries had redirected supplies to Russian airlines.

• Sanctions introduced against the Russian aviation industry after the large-scale invasion of Ukraine include a ban on the supply of aircraft to Russia, as well as a ban on flights of Russian aircraft to countries that have imposed sanctions, and the closure of their airspace. Insurance certificates were also revoked, and the planes that were leased were required to be returned by Russian airlines, which they did not do. Because of this, the majority of Russian planes can now fly abroad only to a limited number of countries.